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American  Literature 
In  the  Colonial  and  National  Periods 


232  ^6^  ^^^^  ^utfjor. 


THE  HISTORY  OF  ORATORY  FROM  THE  AGE  OF 
PERICLES  TO  THE  PRESENT  TIME. 

THE  OCCASIONAL  ADDRESS:  ITS  COMPOSITION 
AND  LITERATURE.  A  STUDY  IN  DEMON- 
STRATIVE  ORATORY. 

PRINCIPLES  AND  METHODS  OF  LITERARY  CRIT- 
ICISM. 

SEVEN  NATURAL  LAWS  OF  LITERARY  COM- 
POSITION. 

MAKERS   OF   AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 


American  Literature 

in  the 

Colonial  and  National  Periods 


BY 


LORENZO   SEARS,  L.H.D. 

Professor  in  Bronvn  Uni'uersity 


SECOND   EDITION 


Boston 

Little,  Brown,  and  Company 
1905 


Copyrighty  iSQQy  IQOO, 
By  E.  Benjamin  Andrews. 

Copyright^  igo2. 
By  Little,  Brown,  and  Company. 


All  rights  reserved 

Published  October,  1902 


Tkb  Univbrsity  Pkbss,  Cambridgb,  Mass.,  U.  S.  A. 


INSCRIBED 

WITH   GRATEFUL   REMEMBRANCE 

TO 

WILLIAM  JEWETT  TUCKER,  D.D.,  LL.D, 
President  of  Dartmouth  College 


Preface 

The  division  of  the  subject  made  in  the  title  seems 
warranted  by  the  difference  between  ideas  which  pre- 
vailed in  the  first  century  and  three-quarters  and  those 
in  the  remainder  of  the  three  centuries,  almost,  during 
which  English-speaking  people  have  lived  and  written  in 
this  country.  In  the  first  period  the  manner  of  life  and 
thought  was  that  of  British  colonists ;  in  the  last,  that 
of  American  citizens.  The  transition  was  not  immediate 
in  letters,  as  it  was  not  in  politics,  but  the  quarter- 
century  during  which  independence  was  first  devised  and 
declared,  and  then  won  and  acknowledged,  contained  a 
point  where  the  dividing  line  may  be  drawn  between  two 
diverse  literary  periods.  For  convenience,  1783,  the  date 
of  the  Paris  treaty,  may  serve  as  well  as  any.  Further 
division  has  not  been  deemed  essential  to  the  present 
purpose. 

This  purpose  is  to  indicate,  by  mention  of  leading 
authors  and  their  works,  the  growth  of  letters  in  Amer- 
ica, from  such  efforts  as  the  earliest  English  immigrants 
were  able  to  make,  with  the  attainments  they  brought 
from  home,  down  to  achievements  by  citizens  of  a  nation 
old  enough  to  have  a  literature  of  its  own,  however  much 
it  may  be  indebted  to  treasures  in  other  lands. 


;joi./y 


Vlll 


Preface 


To  make  this  development  apparent,  space  has  been 
given  to  representative  authors  rather  than  to  enumera- 
tion of  all  who  have  contributed  to  the  total  production 
of  the  two  periods.  Care  has  been  taken  to  make  selec- 
tions which  exemplify,  as  well  as  their  brevity  will  permit, 
the  writers'  manner  and  method,  and  that  illustrate  the 
spirit  of  the  time  and  place  in  which  they  were  written 
or  of  which  they  discourse. 

L.  S. 

August,  1902. 


Contents 

THE  COLONIAL  PERIOD 

Faob 
I.    Introductory 3 

The  Colonial  Renaissance  —  Colonial  writings  — 
Represent  British  ideas  — And  English  liberty  — 
Narrowing  influences  —  Length  of  colonial  and  na- 
tional periods. 

II.    John  Smith  and  Company 10 

Jamestown  —  Smith  as  a  soldier  of  fortune  —  As  a 

writer Of  romancing  turn  —  Other  writers  in  the 

company  —  Their  writings. 

III.  Plymouth  Diarists 20 

Northern  colonists  —  Simplicity  of  early  writings  — 
William  Bradford's  History  —  Edward  Winslow  — 
His  journal. 

IV.  Three  Bay  Men 29 

Thomas  Morton  —  His  "New  English  Canaan  "  — 
John  Winthrop  —  His  "  History  of  New  England  ** 
—  Edward  Johnson  —  His  "  Wonder- Working  Provi- 
dence *'  — Diverse  views. 

V.    Controversy  and  Verse 43 

Interpretations  of  freedom  and  liberty  —  Roger 
Williams  — His  «  Bloudy  Tenent"  —John  Cotton's 
"Bloudy  Tenent  Washed"  —  Nathaniel  Ward — 
His  "  Simple  Cobler  of  Agawam  "  —  Eulogy  — 
Psalmody — "Bay  Psalm  Book"  — Anne  Bradstreet 
— Michael  Wigglesworth — "The  Day  of  Doom." 

VI.     Sewall's  Diary  and  Mather's  "Magnalia"     .      57 
Sundry  books  of  the  time  —  Sewall's  "Diary"  — 
The  Mathers  — Cotton  Mather's  "Magnalia." 


X  Contents 

Pagb 
VII.    Books  of  Travel 71 

Crossing  the  century  line  —  Publications  of  the  day 

—  Colonists  make  excursions — Madam  Knight  to 
New  York  —  Wolley  and  Keith  —  In  the  South, 
John  Lawson  —  Ebenezer  Cook  —  Robert  Beverly's 
"History  of  Virginia." 

VIII.    Essays,  Newspapers,  and  Almanacs 80 

Jeremiah  Dummer  —  His  "Letter  to  a  Noble  Lord" 
and  "  Defense  of  New  England  "  — John  Wise —  His 
"Churches'  Quarrel  Exposed  "  —  Contemporary 
Writings  —  Early  newspapers  —  The  almanac  —  As 
a  literature  primer. 

IX.    Transition — Edwards  and  Franklin  ....      91 
Jonathan   Edwards  —  His  writings — "Freedom  of 
the   Will  "  — Benjamin   FrankUn  —  The    Press  — 
Franklin's  service  to  his  countrymen  —  As  a  writer 

—  The  first  public  library  —  His  "Autobiography  " 

—  Other  works. 

X.    Three  Historians  and  a  Poet 104 

Liberal  tendencies  —  Thomas  Prince  —  William 
Stith  —  William  Smith  —  Thomas  Hutchinson  —  His 
"History  of  Massachusetts  "  —  Mather  Byles —  His 
verse. 

XI.    Remonstrant  Writers 116 

Separation  and  association  —  Political  discussion  — 
Pamphlets — James  Otis  and  others  —  Loyalist  writ- 
ers— Samuel  Adams  — JosiahQuincy — John  Dickin- 
son —  His  "  Farmer's  Letters ' '  —  Politics  in  pulpits 
and  elsewhere. 

Xn.    Writers  and  Speakers  of  the  Revolution      .     127 
Oratory  the  literature  of  war  —  From  words  to  blows 

—  Thomas  Paine's  "Common  Sense"  and  "Crisis" 
— Patrick  Henry —  Other  Southern  orators  —  North- 
ern orators — Revolution  poetry — Philip  Freneau — v/"^ 
Retrospect. 


Contents  xi 

THE    NATIONAL    PERIOD 

Page 

XIII.  Political  Writers  of  the  Critical  Period  .     143 

Resumd  —  Transition  gradual  —  Political  contro- 
versy—  The  "Federalist"  —  Its  writers  —  And 
topics — Other  political  writers. 

XIV.  Epics  and  Dramas 152 

/T'rumbuirs  "McFingal" — Dwight's  "Conquest 
of  Canaan"  —  Barlow's  "Vision  of  Columbus'* 
and  "Columbiad  "  — Rise  of  American  drama  — 
Hindrances. 

XV.    Early  Fiction 165 

Susanna  Rowson  —  Her  "  Charlotte  Temple  "  — 
Tabitha  Tenny's  "Female  Quixotism" — Hugh 
Brackenridge  —  "Modern  Chivalry  "  — Brockden 
Brown  —  His  fiction  —  The  forward  movement. 

XVI.    At  the  Beginning  of  the  Nineteenth  Century    175 
John  Quincy  Adams  —  Correspondence  as  litera- 
ture —  "  Salmagundi "  —  James  K.   Paulding  — 
His  writings. 

XVII.    Washington  Irving,  Humorist  and  Historian    185 
Anriecedents  —  "Knickerbocker's  History  of  New 
York"  —  "  The  Sketch  Book  "  —  Life  and  letters 
abroad — His  good  offices  —  Voluminous  writings 
—  Success  and  position  —  Extracts. 

XVIII.     The  Knickerbocker  Group 198 

Joseph  Rodman  Drake  —  Fitz-Greene  Halleck  — 
Clement  C.  Moore  —  Gulian  C.  Verplanck  — 
William  CuUen  Bryant  —  "  Thanatopsis  "  —  A 
poet  of  nature  —  "  The  Flood  of  Years." 

XIX.    James  Fenimore  Cooper 211 

Education  and  literary  ventures  —  Stories  of  the 
border  —  Sea  stories  —  Uneven  work  —  In  foreign 
lands  —  Controversy  and  criticism  —  Popularity — 
"  Last  of  the  Mohicans  "  and  "  Pilot." 


xii  Contents 

Page 
XX.    Nathaniel  P.  Willis  and  Bayard  Taylor    .    224 

Early  promise  —  Light  prose  and  verse  —  Travel- 
ler's letters  —  "  White  Poplar  literature  "  —  Bay- 
ard Taylor — Traveller  and  journalist  —  "By-Ways 
of  Europe  "  —  "  Camadeva  "  —  "  Nubia. ' ' 

XXI.    John  P.  Kennedy  and  William  G.  Simms   .     .     289 
Kennedy,  lawyer  and  novelist  —  History  and  Ro- 
mance —  "  Swallow    Barn  "  —  Simms  —  Fertility 
and  range  —  Contemporary  novelists. 

XXII.    Edgar  Allan  Poe 251 

Early  years  —  First  ventures  —  Inheritances  — 
Literary  career  —  Prose  tales  —  Their  ghoulish 
character  —  As  a  critic  —  Value  of  contemporary 
fame. 

XXin.    John  Greenleaf  Whittier 265 

Revolt  in  New  England  —  Whittier 's  antecedents 
and  education  —  Early  efforts  —  Legend  in  verse 

—  "Voices  of  Freedom"  —  War  songs  —  Poems 
of  the  countryside — "Among  the  Hills." 

XXIV.    Henry  Wads  worth  Longfellow 277 

Domestic  and  foreign  sources  of  poetry  —  Educa- 
tion and  travel  —  New  and  old  world  poems  — 
"  Evangeline  "  —  "  Hiawatha  "  —  Other  poems  — 
Dedication. 

XXV.    Ralph  Waldo  Emerson 288 

Independency  —  Restlessness  of  the  time  —  Popu- 
lar lectures  —  Later  essays  —  Style  —  A  stimulant 
— Prose  writings  —  Verse. 

XXVI.    Nathaniel  Hawthorne 300 

Early  years  and  writings  —  Delay  of  recognition  — 
Puritan  traditions  —  "Scarlet  Letter"  and  other 
Romances. 

XXVn.    James  Russell  Lowell 312 

Dialect  verse  —  Poems  of  sentiment  —  Graver  verse 

—  "Fable  for  Critics"— War  poems  — Prose 
writings. 


Contents  xlii 

Pagk 

XX Vm.    Oliver  Wendell  Holmes 327 

Ancestry  —  Early  verse  —  Occasional  poetry — 
Humor  —  Pathos  —  Range  —  "  The  Autocrat  '* 

—  "Professor  "  and  "  Poet  "  —  Fiction  and 
biography. 

XXIX.    Henry  David  Thoreau 338 

Primitive  inclinations  —  Life  at  Walden  Pond 

—  Isolation  —  Literary  work  —  Verse. 

XXX.    Walt  Whitman 348 

Literary  independence  —  The  chanter  —  Sym- 
pathy with  humanity  —  Americanism  —  Duality 
— Primitive  type  —  Improvement  with  age. 

XXXI.     Sparks,  Bancroft,  Hildreth,  Prescott  .     ,    360 

Sparks's  early  life  and  labors  —  Methods  — 
Bancroft — Round  Hill  School  — ''  History  of  the 
United  States ' '  —  Topics  —  Hildreth — Prescott 

—  "  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  "  —  Other  works. 

XXXn.    Motley  and  Parkman .373 

Motley's  first  efforts — "Dutch  Republic"  — 
Topics  of  interest  —  Later  works  —  Parkman 

—  Among  Indians  —  Record  of  struggle  for  a 
continent— ^Literary  heroism. 

XXXIII.  Southern  Orators 386 

Deliberative  oratory —  John  Randolph — Henry 
Clay  —  Qualities  of  his  speech  —  John  C.  Cal- 
houn — Characteristics  —  Political  prophets. 

XXXIV.  Northern  Orators 396 

Daniel  Webster  —  Forensic  eloquence  —  De- 
fence of  the  Union  and  Constitution  —  Occa- 
sional oratory  —  Edward  Everett — Oratorical 
art  —  Rufus  Choate  —  Charles  Sumner  —  Wen- 
dell Phillips  —  George  William  Curtis. 


xiv  Contents 

Page 
XXXV.    Local  Fiction 406 

After  the  war  —  Theodore  Winthrop  —  Edward 
Eggleston  —  Bret  Harte  —  Helen  Hunt  Jackson 

—  George  W.  Cable  —  Joel  Chandler  Harris  — 
Mary  N.  Murfree  —  John  Esten  Cooke — Mary 
Johnston  —  New  England  writers — Mary  E. 
Wilkins  —  Sarah  Orne  Jewett  and  others. 

XXXVI.    Other  Phases  of  Fiction 426 

Historic  jfiction  —  Foreign  subjects  —  Anglo- 
American  novelists  —  Caricature  —  In  the  inter- 
est of  realism  —  The  society  novel — William 
D.  Howells  —  Sociologic  stories  —  The  novel 
with  a  purpose  —  The  abundance  of  fiction. 

XXXVII.  At  the  Close  of  the  Nineteenth  Century    436 

Book-making  in  1900  —  The  element  of  num- 
bers —  Largest  sales  —  Poetry  —  Criticism  — 
Magazines  —  Newspapers. 

XXXVIII.  American  Humor 446 

Development  of  Humor  —  Primitive  —  English 

—  Early  humor  in  America  —  Ward  —  Byles  — 
Franklin  —  Professional  humorists  —  Judge  Hali- 
burton —  Seba  Smith — Dialect  and  Spelling  — 
The  "  Biglow  Papers  "  —  "  Nasby  "  —  "  Josh 
Billings  "  —  Shillaber  —  "  Artemus  Ward  "  — 
Other  humorists  —  Humor  of  to-day. 


Reading  Li8T 463 

Index 471 


The   Colonial  Period 

1607— 1783 


"  Though  the  beginning  may  seeme  harsh  in  regard  of  the  Antiquities y 
brevity f  and  names;  a  pleasanter  discourse  ensues." 

Captain  John  Smith. 


American  Literature 

IN    ITS    COLONIAL    ^ 
NATIONAL    PERIODS 

I 

INTRODUCTORY 

There  are  many  indications  of  an  increasing  interest  in 
colonial  antiquities.  The  most  obvious  is  the  latest 
fashion  in  architecture,  with  its  gambrel  roofs,  ^^^  coioniai 
pillared  porticos,  yellow  and  white  coloring,  ^«°»****°"- 
suggesting  if  not  following  the  style  of  building  in 
the  eighteenth  century.  Such  houses  must  be  furnished 
in  a  manner  to  correspond,  and  the  country-side  is  ran- 
sacked to  find  uncomfortable  chairs,  clocks  whose  altitude 
is  greater  than  their  accuracy,  and  sideboards  with  rheu- 
matic joints.  New  factories  are  started  to  make  old 
bric-k-brac,  and  good  plate  is  battered  into  better.  The 
children  that  run  about  these  houses  answer  to  ancient 
names  like  Dorothy,  Gladys,  and  Sibyl  —  the  more  antique, 
like  Keziah  and  Keturah,  Benhadad  and  Barzillai,  being 
dropped  as  too  Hebraic  for  modem  use.  Then  the  colonial 
spirit  spreads  from  the  family  to  the  community,  and  socie- 
ties and  organizations  spring  up  to  connect  their  members 


4  American  Literature 

with  pilgrims  and  soldiers,  governors  and  wars.     We  have 

our  colonial  dames,  and  they  have  their  battles.     There 

are  sons  and  daughters  of  this  and  that,  distinguished  in 

proportion  to  the  remoteness  of  their  ancestry.     So  wide 

has  the  contagion  spread  that  we  have  been  threatened 

with  a  return  of  the  full-skirted  coat  and  long  waistcoat, 

of  small  clothes  and  shoe  buckles,  although  no  one  has 

yet  suggested  the  earlier  steeple  hat,  doublet,  and  trunk 

hose  of  the  Puritan.     Indeed,  through  all  this  Stuart  and 

Hanoverian  restoration  a  saving  soberness  of  judgment 

has  prevailed  sufficient  to  keep  it  from  running  away  with 

its  advocates.     At  least,  they  have  never  taken  kindly  to 

the  Cromwellian  features  of  colonial  art.     Possibly  some 

may  discover  signs  of  coming  imperialism  in  this,  and  the 

slogan  of  the  future  may  be  the  old  song  whose  burden 

was : 

^'  In  good  old  colony  times, 
When  we  lived  under  a  king." 

After  all,  this  looking  backward  and  bringing  forward 
is  not  a  mere  fad  or  temporary  craze.  Its  lightest  move- 
ments are  as  the  foam  on  the  surface  which  goes  with  a 
strong  current  underneath  —  the  historical  spirit  of  this 
generation,  combined  with  a  patriotism  which  means  to 
honor  the  nation's  founders  by  preserving  the  records  of 
their  doings.  In  everybody's  desire  to  gather  up  SibylUne 
leaves  before  it  is  too  late,  it  is  not  strange  that  family 
records  and  genealogies,  old  wills  and  inventories,  surviv- 
ing plate,  spinning  wheels,  and  even  pewter  mugs,  should 
get  into  the  drag-net.  Who  shall  say  what  value  any  of 
these  may  have  to  the  historian  in  coming  centuries  ? 

In  view  of  this  retrospective  disposition  of  our  time  it 
would  be  glaringly  inconsistent  to  overlook  the  writings 


Introductory  5 

of  the  colonial  period.  If  literature  is  a  truer  record  of  a 
people's  life  than  the  minutes  of  parliaments  and  town 
meetings,  it  cannot  be  neglected  for  historical  coioniai 
reasons.  Besides,  literature  has  a  history  of  its  "^"^^"ss- 
own,  any  part  of  which  cannot  be  understood  without 
some  knowledge  of  what  has  gone  before.  A  people  may 
change  its  political  status  in  a  day,  or  declare  that  it  has 
done  so,  but  in  the  domain  of  letters,  as  in  that  of  nature, 
there  is  a  continuous  growth  which  knows  no  sudden 
changes.  There  is  no  broad  cleavage  between  its  after 
development  and  its  early  struggles  for  life.  These  may 
be  forgotten  or  derided,  as  a  man  laughs  at  his  own 
youthful  efforts,  without  which  he  would  never  have  come 
to  distinction.  It  is  pleasant  to  look  upon  the  strong 
trunk  and  branches  of  a  tree  with  its  wealth  of  foliage 
and  fruit,  and  easy  to  forget  the  ungainly  roots  below 
ground,  but  the  tree  does  not  forget  that  through  them 
comes  its  life  from  remote  fountains,  and  its  staying 
power.  Accordingly,  when  we  grow  self-complacent  over 
our  recent  attainments  in  letters,  and  are  amused,  as  we 
cannot  help  being,  at  the  exploits  of  our  forbears,  it  is  well 
to  recall  some  sturdy  qualities  in  their  literature,  as  in 
their  life.  Above  all,  it  will  be  needful  to  keep  in  mind  a 
few  circumstances  and  conditions  which  differed  from 
those  in  which  we  are  placed,  and  helped  to  make  colonial 
literature  unlike  that  of  the  present  day. 

First,  it  should  be  remembered  that  it  was  written  by 
colonists  of  Great  Britain.  It  is  not  easy  to  understand 
all  that  this  meant  to  our  forefathers.  For  a  Represent 
century  and  a  quarter  the  ruling  ideas  which  ^"^^^^  ^'^^^s- 
were  in  a  colonist's  mind  have  been  growing  indis- 
tinct,  since   they   were   summarily   dismissed   after   the 


\/ 


6  American  Literature 

Declaration  of  Independence.  A  visit  to  Canada  will  not 
invariably  make  them  clear  to  a  citizen  of  the  United 
States.  They  are  a  matter  of  inheritance  and  faithful 
cherishing  by  colonists  who  have  never  revolted. 

For  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  years  we  have  been 
throwing  to  the  winds  a  legacy  for  which  we  have  no 
more  use  than  for  crowns  and  thrones.  In  this  way  we 
have  forgotten  how  largely  these  once  substantial  realities 
entered  into  the  thinking  and  writing  of  Americans.  Not 
that  royalty  always  obtruded  itself  into  the  kingdom  of 
letters,  but,  like  the  weather,  it  had  its  inspiriting  or 
depressing  effect,  according  to  its  mood.  How  often  and 
how  much  this  varied  can  be  clearly  traced  in  the  com- 
plexion of  the  colonial  documents,  public  and  private.  It 
changed  with  different  monarchs  and  with  the  same  ruler 
on  different  occasions,  sometimes  on  account  of  atmos- 
pheric changes  in  New  England  or  Virginia.  But  in  the 
main  the  colonist  was  sensible  of  his  connection  with  the 
mother  country  and  was  affectionately  proud  of  it.  He 
was  an  Englishman  abroad,  cultivating  and  defending  a 
part  of  the  British  empire.  When  he  visited  England  he 
spoke  of  going  home.  His  ships  brought  back  other 
Englishmen,  the  wares,  ideas,  and  fashions  of  London. 
When  he  could  afford  it  he  sent  his  sons  to  Oxford  or 
Cambridge,  and  they  brought  back  the  law,  medicine,  and 
some  of  the  theology  they  learned  there. 

Then  there  was  what  may  be  called  the  court  literature, 
which  was  a  factor  in  colonial  production.  What  pleased 
king  and  courtiers  was  likely  to  find  general  favor  and  a 
publisher.  The  fashion  once  set,  there  were  pens  enough 
to  follow  it  and  to  give  a  popular  tone  to  literature  in 
England,  which  would  be  imitated  in  America,  provided  it 


Introductory  7 

did  not  clash  with  colonial  tastes  and  principles.  This, 
however,  is  an  important  proviso.  Perhaps  the  first  move- 
ment toward  independence  that  can  be  discovered  was  the 
refusal  to  follow  the  literary  leading  of  Charles  the  Second's 
dramatists  and  poets.  Boston  laid  an  embargo  upon  them 
long  before  it  pitched  taxed  tea  overboard.  However,  this 
was  carried  too  far,  and  books  were  interdicted  that  would 
have  been  good  for  New  Englanders. 

While,  then,  the  colonists  were  loyal  to  British  ideas, 
they  never  forgot  that  they  were  Britons,  with  the  national 
habit  of  thinking  for  themselves,  often  aloud  And  English 
and  in  black  and  white.     This  independence  ^'^*^y* 
was  fostered  here  by  their  distance  from  home,  their  isola- 
tion, and  devotion  to  a  few  principles  which  they  came 
here    to    maintain.      As   a   consequence,   their    writings       v 
became  intensely  provincial.     They  could  not  well  be 
otherwise.     The  new  country  was  full  of  strange  interest 
to  Pilgrim  and  Puritan. 

They  were  aware  that  they  were  committed  to  an 
enterprise  with  boundless  prospects  for  the  future,  and 
that  the  eyes  of  Europe  were  upon  them.  Meantime, 
their  own  world  was  the  little  settlement  between  the 
wide  ocean  and  the  wilderness. 

Their  vision  gradually  became  limited  to  the  neighbor- 
hood with  its  meeting-house,  school,  magistrate,  and  minis- 
ter. The  last  of  these  was  commonly  what  they  Narrowing 
called  him  —  their  teacher.  He  was  expected  ^°^"*"*=*^- 
to  furnish  ideas,  to  do  most  of  the  reading,  to  be  leader 
and  guide,  critic  and  censor  for  the  community.  In  return 
they  asserted  the  right  to  discuss  his  propositions  and 
criticise  his  manner.  But  the  discussion  and  the  criti- 
cism, the  word  spoken,  and  finally  the  word  written,  were 


^ 


8  American  Literature 

largely  in  theologic  and  polemic  lines,  and  at  length  in 
political. 

The  remainder  was  personal  and  town  talk.  The  diary 
and  the  journal,  the  narrative  and  the  minutes  of  the 
assembly,  had  for  them  the  importance  of  what  is  near, 
personal,  and  present.  They  could  not  distinguish  the 
perishable  from  the  permanent  in  their  materials  for 
history.  Everything  was  in  the  foreground,  like  a  Jap- 
anese landscape.  The  death  of  an  elder's  calf  and  the 
drowning  of  his  neighbor  are  chronicled  in  the  same 
entry.  The  arrival  of  a  belle  from  London  and  of  a  royal 
charter  create  equal  commotions.  Variations  from  the 
sermon,  the  journal,  or  the  narrative  for  Enghsh  readers 
consisted  in  poetic  effusions  which  could  not  be  wholly 
restrained,  even  when  poetry  was  under  a  ban.  The  early 
colonist  put  a  cork  in  the  bottle  of  his  fancy,  wired  it 
down,  and  when  it  began  to  fizz  put  it  under  his  cloak 
or  carried  it  into  his  cellar.  Bound  to  escape  or  burst  the 
bottle,  the  muse  was  released  with  the  chokings  and  gurg- 
lings of  a  strangled  culprit.  She  had  a  cracked,  nasal, 
doleful  voice  and  uncertain  gait  to  the  end.  Her  sober 
strains  were  mournful  and  agonizing;  her  merry  moods 
like  the  gambols  of  a  hippopotamus ;  her  eulogistic  per- 
formances like  the  contortions  of  a  juggler.  Certainly 
the  glory  of  colonial  literature  is  not  in  its  verse. 

Much  more  can  be  said  for  its  political  writings  in  later 
years  and  the  speeches  which  were  preserved  by  the 
scanty  reporting  of  the  time.  In  these  directions  the 
colonist  won  distinction  at  home  and  abroad.  Toward 
them  the  course  of  events  carried  him  inevitably,  and  the 
strength  of  his  mind  and  the  impulses  of  his  heart  went 
with  pen  and  tongue  in  high  political  discourse.     The 


Introductory  9 

liberties  of  a  nation  were  largely  won  by  its  masterly 
achievements  in  this  kind. 

Eeaders  of  this  brief  and  general  survey  may  wonder 
what  there  can  be  in  our  colonial  writings  to  enlist  attention. 
The  best  answer  is :  Eead  them  and  see.  As,  however, 
they  are  not  all  easily  accessible,  the  best  that  can  be  done 
here  will  be  to  mention  representative  writers  and  where 
their  "literary  remains"  may  be  found,  giving  extracts 
when  worth  giving,  and  noting  changes  for  the  better 
through  which  the  provincial  advanced  to  the  national. 

Few  always  consider  how  long  a  period  was  occupied  in 
this  evolution,  or  the  fact  that  the  colonial  years  exceed  those 
of  our  national  life  thus  far  by  fifty-seven  —  one  hundred 
and  seventy-six  against  one  hundred  and  nineteen.  But 
the  relative  growth  of  the  last  period  cannot  be  balanced 
by  the  greater  length  of  the  first,  nor  the  improvement 
that  has  been  made  in  letters  as  in  every  other  art.  Still, 
whether  colonial  or  national,  American  literature  should 
appeal  to  Americans.  The  love  and  the  study  of  letters 
should  begin  at  home,  however  widely  they  may  broaden 
out  in  sympathy  and  attainment.  Whether  English  or 
American  in  any  particular  stage  of  its  growth  here,  our 
literature  is  the  product  of  our  race,  and  of  our  soil,  and  is 
something  of  which  in  any  age  we  need  not  be  ashamed, 
when  environment  is  considered. 


n 

JOHN  SMITH  AND  COMPANY 

American  antiquities  are  scarce  and  widely  separated. 
Compared  with  those  of  the  old  world  they  are  recent  — 
and  also  unproductive  of  large  revenues  from  fees.  Of 
the  few  we  have,  the  most  interesting  is  the  old  church 
tower  which  marks  the  place  on  the  James  Eiver  where 
in  May,  1607,  a  hundred  Englishmen  disembarked  to 
establish  the  first  government  and  church  within  the 
territory  of  what  is  now  the  United  States.  They  like- 
wise began  a  literature  there  which  has  grown  with  the 
growth  of  the  nation. 

Incidentally  and  parenthetically  it  may  be  observed, 
that  there  is  no  spot  which  should  be  of  greater  interest 
to  Americans  than  the  plot  of  fifty  acres,  now  in  charge 
of  the  Virginia  Antiquarian  Society,  where  can  be  seen  all 
that  time  and  the  river  have  spared  of  the  beginnings  of 
the  republic.  Now  and  then  a  traveller  steps  off  the 
Norfolk  and  Richmond  boat  at  the  end  of  a  long  landing- 
stage,  probably  not  far  from  the  former  shore  line,  and 
has  a  few  hours  for  meditation,  —  which  he  can  continue 
if  he  chooses  at  old  Williamsburg,  seven  miles  inland.  In 
1907  it  is  expected  that  many  pilgrims  will  gather  to 
celebrate  the  three  hundredth  anniversary  of  the  planting 
of  the  first  permanent  settlement  in  America,  of  which 
one  John  Smith  was  the  foremost  man. 

10 


John  Smith  and  Company  ii 

John  Smith  of  Lincolnshire,  with  York  and  Lancaster 
blood  in  him,  was  no  discredit  to  his  ancestors,  smith  as  a 

Soldier  of 

even  if  he  did  run  away  from  school  and  home  Fortune. 

and  — 

"  Ship  himself  all  aboard  of  a  ship, 
Foreign  countries  for  to  see." 

He  saw  them  to  some  purpose  and  as  a  soldier  of  fortune, 
as  Ashton  his  contemporary  calls  him,  in  France  and  the 
Low  Countries,  in  Italy  and  Transylvania,  fighting  Span- 
iard, Turk,  and  Tartar.  The  last  knight-errant  of  English 
chivalry  in  quest  of  adventure,  he  tilts  in  tournament  with 
three  Turkish  champions,  the  token  of  whose  severed  heads 
is  blazoned  on  his  heraldic  escutcheon  by  order  of  Prince 
Sigismund  Bathor.  Fortune  turning,  he  becomes  the  slave 
of  a  Bashaw  and  the  favorite  of  a  princess  at  Constanti- 
nople, escapes,  turns  up  in  Barbary,  fights  pirates,  shares 
booty,  and  finally  returns  to  England  to  hear  of  recent 
American  discoveries,  among  them  "  the  blessed  herb  to- 
bacco," casts  in  his  lot  with  Gosnold,  Wingfield,  and  divers 
gentlemen  to  sail  for  Virginia  and  to  search  for  the  South 
Sea  as  the  repository  of  immense  riches. 

What  they  did  find  on  the  26th  of  April,  1607,  was  a 
great  store  of  roast  oysters  left  by  decamping  natives,  and 
nothing  more  valuable  than  the  pearls  in  the  shells.  It 
was  the  beginning  of  a  well-known  story  of  disappointment 
and  sickness,  disaster  and  death,  of  which  only  the  literary 
side  can  be  touched  upon  here.  Beading  the  melancholy 
account  of  the  encampment  on  the  flats  by  the  tidewater 
of  the  James  river,  it  would  not  be  fair  to  expect  great 
achievements  in  literature  amidst  such  surroundings. 

Yet  the  redoubtable  Smith,  who  had  hewn  his  way 
through  the  world  with  a  sword,  does  not  hesitate  to  pick 


/ 


12  American  Literature 

up  the  quill  of  a  wild  goose  —  the  best  of  pens  for  the 

story  of  a  chase  for  gold  such  as  he  had  to  record.     To  be 

sure,  he  is  as  apologetic  as  any  new  author, 

As  a  Writer.  i-.r.  t  •  ip  •  ^         ^ 

and  fortifies  himself  at  the  start  with  the 
remark  that  other  soldiers  "have  writ  with  their  pens 
what  their  swords  have  done,"  and  he  counts  it  no  disgrace 
to  follow  their  example,  as  others  since  have  followed  his. 
!But  his  manner  of  writing  suggests  the  sword  rather  than 
the  pen,  stabbing  upon  paper  as  with  a  dagger  point  his 
sharp  sentences.  It  is  not  the  clerkly  style,  but  that  of  a 
soldier,  hirsute  and  bristling  with  helmet,  back  and  breast 
plates,  sitting  in  a  hut  of  logs  and  mud,  armed  and  prepared 
for  morning  calls  of  aboriginal  visitors  on  mischief  bent, 
interrupted  jon  every  page  by  business  or  brawl  of  com- 
rades, and  for  days  together  by  expeditions  of  discovery  or 
diplomacy  in  savage  wilds.  Yet  out  of  this  turmoil  and 
distraction  he  contrives  to  wrest  letters  which  shall  induce 
other  Englishmen  of  spirit  to  join  the  little  company  for 
its  advantage  and  their  own.  What  is  known  as  the  "  True 
Eelation,"  or  "News  from  Virginia,"  doubtless  contains 
the  substance  of  those  early  letters.  How  much  it  was 
tampered  with  later  must  be  left  to  the  critics  to  settle 
among  themselves,  but  there  are  passages  in  it  that  bear 
the  ear-mark  of  Captain  John.     For  example : 

"  The  next  day  came  first  an  Indian,  then  another  as  ambas- 
sadors to  speak  with  me.  Our  discourse  was,  that  what  spades, 
shovels,  swords,  or  tools,  they  had  stolen,  to  bring  home  (if  not 
the  next  day  they  should  hang) .  The  next  news  was  they  had 
taken  two  of  our  men,  ranging  in  the  woods,  which  mischief  no 
punishment  will  prevent  but  hanging,  and  these  they  should 
redeem  with  their  own.  Sixteen  or  eighteen  thus  braving  us  to 
our  doors  we  desired  to  sally  upon  them,  that  they  might  know 


John  Smith  and  Company  13 

what  we  durst  to  do,  and  at  iiight  manned  our  barge  and  burnt 
their  towns  and  destroyed  and  spoiled  what  we  could,  but  they 
brought  our  men  and  freely  delivered  them.  The  president  re- 
leased one,  the  rest  we  brought,  well  guarded,  to  morning  and 
evening  prayers.  Our  men  all  in  arms,  their  trembling  fear 
then  caused  them  much  sorrow  which  till  then  scoffed  and 
scorned  at  what  we  durst  do.  The  council  concluded  that  I 
should  terrify  them  with  some  torture." 

It  is  interesting  to  observe  here  the  combination  of  an 
executive  and  a  missionary  spirit,  and  that  the  zeal  of 
conquest  was  accompanied  by  compulsory  attendance 
on  the  daily  services.  Also  that  religious  observances 
prevailed  in  the  planting  of  American  civilization.  More 
to  the  present  purpose  it  is  to  note  the  jagged  style,  which' 
originally  was  without  intelligible  punctuation,  and  had  a 
lawless  distribution  of  capitals  and  divisions  of  sentences. 
But  the  mixture  of  force  and  piety,  of  enterprise  and  bad 
grammar  belongs  to  all  our  early  history. 

In  his  dedication  of  his  "  History  of  Virginia "  to  the 
Duchess  of  Kichmond,  Smith  says:  —  "I  have  deeply 
hazarded  myself  in  doing  and  suffering,  and  why  should  I 
stick  to  hazard  my  reputation  in  recording  ?  Where  shall 
we  look  to  find  a  Julius  Caesar  whose  achievements  shine 
as  clear  in  his  own  Commentaries  as  they  did  in  the  field  ? 
But  because  I  am  no  compiler  by  hearsay,  but  have  been  a 
real  actor,  I  have  therefore  been  bold  to  challenge  them 
to  come  under  the  reach  of  my  rough  pen."  He  also  lays 
the  responsibility  of  his  writing  his  "  Travels  and  Adven- 
tures "  upon  Sir  Kobert  Cotton,  and  also  upon  the  perversion 
by  contemporaries  of  his  previous  books,  saying :  "  They 
have  acted  my  fatal  tragedies  upon  the  stage  and  racked 
my  relations  at  their  pleasure."     Doubtless  this  was  a 


14  American  Literature 

stroke  at  some  of  William  Shakespeare's  company  at  the 
Mermaid  tavern. 

If  in  any  of  the  eight  books,  large  and  small,  which  he 
wrote  after  the  "  News  from  Virginia,"  and  six  of  them  in 
ofRomanc-  England  during  a  score  of  years  —  if  in  them 
ingTurn.  j^^  bordcrs  upon  the  marvellous  at  times,  it 
must  be  remembered  that  he  was  a  strong  man,  with  the 
capacity  of  making  the  most  and  best  of  everything,  him- 
self included;  that  he  had  an  enlarging  lens  for  facts, 
and  a  royally  romantic  imagination  with  respect  to  distant 
events,  and  that  he  had  Sir  John  Mandeville  to  precede  him 
in  stories  of  travel  and  Baron  Munchausen  to  follow  him  in 
accounts  of  exploits  among  the  Turks.  It  is  possible  that 
a  great  romancer  was  spoiled  when  he  threw  aside  his 
Machiavelli's  "Art  of  War"  and  Marcus  Aurelius,  his 
two  favorite  authors,  and  started  to  serve  under  Eudolf 
of  Hungary.  Nevertheless,  his  principal  so-called  fable  of 
the  Pocahontas  episode  has  been  fairly  well  established 
as  true,  his  early  silence  being  accounted  for  by  a  prudent 
reserve  with  regard  to  aboriginal  customs  toward  intruders, 
lest  Englishmen  should  be  kept  at  home  by  visions  of 
clubs  and  stony  pillows.  This  story  once  confirmed, 
Smith's  other  narrations  and  descriptions  may  be  taken 
with  as  little  salt  as  should  be  administered  with  most 
histories  of  his  day,  such  as  Hakluyt's  "Voyages"  and 
Purchas'  "  Pilgrims  "  and  "  Pilgrimage." 

After  all,  it  will  be  convenient  to  pack  upon  English 
shoulders  most  of  the  fault  that  is  found  with  the  literary 
shortcomings  of  the  first  man  who  wrote  in  America ;  for 
he  went  home  in  two  and  a  half  years  to  stay,  and  to  write 
there  for  twenty  more.  "  We  were  still  to  be  accounted 
Englishmen,"  he  said  of  the  colonists  when  they  settled  in 


John  Smith  and  Company  15 

Virginia,  "  which  might  be  of  use  when  any  of  our  number 
returned  to  England."  With  all  his  affection  and  longing 
for  the  colony  from  which  he  had  been  removed  by  the 
unwisdom  of  its  London  managers,  it  is  not  probable  that 
he  ever  called  himself  an  American  author.  Still,  he  was 
the  beginner  of  colonial  letters,  and  as  such  it  is  pleasant 
to  connect  so  forceful  and  graphic  a  writer  with  their  v 
earliest  history.  Of  himself  he  says  in  the  Preface  to  the 
"  History  of  Virginia  " : 

"  I  ever  intended  that  my  actions  should  be  upright :  now 
my  care  hath  been  that  my  Eelations  should  give  every  man 
they  concerne,  their  due.  But  had  I  not  discovered  and  lived 
in  the  most  of  these  parts,  I  could  not  possibly  have  collected 
the  substantial!  truth  from  such  a  number  of  variable  Eelations, 
that  would  have  made  a  Volume  at  least  of  a  thousand  sheets. 
Though  the  beginning  may  seeme  harsh  in  regard  of  the  Antiq- 
uities, brevity,  and  names  ;  a  pleasanter  discourse  ensues.  The 
style  of  a  soldier  is  not  eloquent,  but  honest  and  justifiable  ;  so 
I  desire  all  my  friends  and  well  wishers  to  accept  it,  and  if  any 
be  so  noble  as  to  respect  it,  he  that  brought  New  England  to 
light  though  long  since  brought  in  obscuritie,  he  is  againe  to  be 
found  a  true  servant  to  all  good  designs." 

The  reader  who  wishes  to  find  the  best  that  Smith 
wrote,  and  to  Americans  the  most  interesting,  will  look 
for  his  "  History  of  Virginia,"  which  every  public  library 
should  have.  If  he  is  not  led  on  page  after  page  with 
increasing  interest  in  the  narratives  and  the  descriptions, 
it  will  be  because  he  has  no  appreciation  of  adventure 
and  no  eye  for  the  picturesque.  There  will  be  some 
rough  reading,  but  if  the  test  of  a  writer  be  the  sus- 
tained interest  in  his  story,  John  Smith  will  be  found  to 
acquit  himself  as  creditably  in  the  field  of  literature  as 


V 


1 6  American  Literature 

on  the  field  of  battle,  albeit  bis  methods  are  somewhat 
similar  in  both,  as  in  the  following : 

"  I  bad  them  depart,  but  flourishing  their  swords,  they  seemed 
but  to  defend  what  they  could  catch  but  out  of  our  hands,  his 
pride  urged  me  to  turne  him  from  amongst  us,  whereat  he 
offered  to  strike  me  with  his  sword,  which  I  prevented,  striking 
him  first :  the  rest  offering  to  revenge  the  blow,  received  such 
an  incounter  and  fled ;  the  better  to  aff'right  them,  I  pursued 
them  with  five  or  six  shot,  and  so  chased  them  out  of  the 
Hand :  the  beginning  of  this  broyle,  little  expecting  by  his 
carriage,  we  durst  have  resisted,  having  even  till  that  present, 
not  beene  contradicted,  especially  them  of  Paspahigh ;  these  - 
Indians  within  one  houre,  having  by  other  Salvages,  then  in 
the  Fort,  understood  that  I  threatened  to  be  revenged,  came 
presently  of  themselves,  and  fell  to  working  upon  our  wears, 
which  were  then  in  hand  by  other  Salvages,  who  seeing  their 
pride  so  incountered,  were  so  submissive  and  willing  to  doe 
anything  as  might  be,  and  with  trembling  feare,  desired  to  be 
friends  within  three  dales  after." 

The  reader  of  this  passage  from  the  "  True  Relation  "  — 
the  earliest  published  account  of  the  first  year  at  James- 
town—  will  rate  the  captain's  courage  higher  than  his 
literary  sense.  The  strength  of  his  sentence  is  equalled 
if  not  surpassed  by  its  length  and  rambling.  And  he  will 
wonder  how  the  "  Newes  from  Virginia  "  read  to  sundry 
playwrights  in  London,  who  in  those  days  were  looking 
for  material  to  work  up  for  the  delectation  of  the  crowd 
at  Blackf  riars  and  the  Globe  theatres. 

There  were  other  writers  in  the  company  first  and  last 

who  contributed  chapters  to  Smith's  history 

ers  in  the        and  WTote  Icttcrs  and  little  books  of  their  own. 

Company. 

As  late  as  1618,  John  Rolfe,  Pocahontas  hus- 
band, complains  of  scandalous  letters  sent  to  England  "  to 


John  Smith  and  Company  17 

disgrace  this  country  with  barrenness,  to  discourage  ad- 
venturers, to  bring  it  and  us  to  ruin  and  confusion  .  .  . 
such  devilish  bad  minds  we  know  some  of  our  country- 
men to  have  not  only  to  the  business,  but  also  to  our 
mother  England  herself."  Thomas  Studley  and  Annas 
Todkill  wrote  of  discoveries  and  accidents  in  Virginia; 
also  Anthony  Bagnall  and  Nathaniel  Powell.  Eichard 
Pots  and  William  Tankard,  thirsty  names,  complain  of 
the  supplies  sent,  and  especially  of  the  kind  of  colonists, 
"  for  all  the  rest  were  poor  gentlemen,  tradesmen,  serving 
men,  libertines  and  such  like,  ten  times  more  fit  to  spoil 
a  commonwealth  than  to  begin  or  help  to  maintain  one." 
William  Parker  and  Ealph  Hamor  write  about  Powhatan ; 
Thomas  Dale,  Master  Whitaker  and  Samuel  Argall  about 
Pocahontas ;  Henry  May  and  John  Evans  about  ship- 
wrecks upon  the  Bermudas,  or  the  "  He  of  Devils  that  all 
men  did  shun  as  hell  and  perdition."  These  "Eelations" 
Smith  adapts  or  adopts  as  editor  of  the  "  History  of  Vir- 
ginia," which  finally  expands  to  take  in  the  "  Trials  and 
Profits  of  New  England  "  and  several  other  topics. 

In  addition  to  these  occasional  contributors,  a  few 
colonists  left  longer  memorials  of  their  stay.  George 
Sandys,  son  of  an  archbishop  of  York,  turned  ten  books 
of  Ovid  into  English  amid  shades  that  were  more  savage 
than  classic,  and  Father  Andrew  White  rendered  his 
English  thoughts  about  Maryland  into  Latin  under 
similar  conditions.  Master  Strachey  in  his  "  Wrack  and 
Eedemption  of  Sir  Thomas  Gates"  anticipated  Shake- 
speare's Ariel  passage  in  the  "Tempest,"  if  he  did  not 
suggest  it,  and  George  Alsop  addressed  the  shade  of 
Cromwell  in  lines  that  would  have  made  trouble  for  him 
in  New  England. 


1 8  American  Literature 

"  Here  lies  that  Oliver  which  of  old  betrayed 
His  King  and  master,  and  after  did  assume, 
With  swelling  pride  to  govern  in  his  room." 

And  in  this :  "  To  an  Old  Velvet  Cap  " : 

"  Say,  didst  thou  cover  Noll's  old  brazen  head  ? 
"Which  on  the  top  of  Westminster's  high  lead 
Stands  on  a  pole  erected  to  the  sky 
As  a  grand  trophy  to  his  memory  1  '* 

More  mournful  verses  were  written  for  Nathaniel 
Bacon's  epitaph,  and  polemic  prose  growing  out  of  his 
"  Eebellion  against  Berkeley."  George  Percy,  brother  of 
the  Earl  of  Northumberland,  discoursed  of  the  spring 
paradise  of  Virginia,  and  later  of  the  summer  pestilence 
and  wasting,  and  Alexander  Whitaker,  son  of  the  presi- 
dent of  a  Cambridge  college  and  a  devoted  missionary 
to  the  Indians,  attempts  to  interest  Englishmen  in  their 
welfare. 

Taken  together,  the  writers  in  the  John  Smith  company 
were  the  best  of  it  in  those  early  years  when  every  social 
grade  was  represented  in  the  motley  crowd  that  came  over 
in  the  "  Susan  Constant,"  the  '*  God-speed "  and  the 
"Discovery."  At  least  it  was  the  men  of  letters  who 
made  for  themselves  a  memorial  which  has  outlasted  the 
fame  of  Dru  Pickhouse,  adventurer,  and  Abram  Eansack, 
refiner  of  gold ;  of  Post  Ginnat,  surgeon,  Larence  Towtales, 
tailor,  and  Eob  Allerton,  perfumer.  Even  the  uncouth 
compositions  of  John  Smith,  soldier  and  pioneer,  captain, 
councillor,  and  governor,  have  done  more  to  preserve  his 
fame  than  his  fighting  and  his  administration.  There  is 
a  barbaric  strength  and  directness  in  them  which  are  pre- 
servative elements,  and  their  recommendation  in  stirring 


John  Smith  and  Company  19 

times  when  such  qualities  may  be  needed.  Besides,  these 
writings  enshrine  the  beginnings  of  American  history  in  a 
form  not  unsuited  to  the  rough  experiences  of  its  earliest 
makers.  The  same  may  be  said  of  the  half  dozen  prin- 
cipal writers  of  this  primitive  age  in  Virginia  and  the 
sister  colony  of  Maryland. 

If  the  reader  should  wish  to  explore  the  literature  of 
this  early  time  he  will  find  the  most  of  it  in  the  printed 
records  of  historical  societies.  Some  of  Smith's  writings 
are  pubhshed  in  volumes  by  themselves,  but  those  of  other 
writers  here  mentioned  will  be  found  in  his  "  History  of 
Virginia,"  or  in  Purchas*  books.  In  *'  Force's  Historical 
Tracts  "  there  are  reprints  of  interesting  narratives,  also  in 
the  magazine  published  by  the  Virginia  Historical  Society 
and  in  the  volumes  of  the  Massachusetts  Historical  So- 
ciety Collections.  Other  references  might  be  given,  but 
these  may  be  sufficient  for  the  present  purpose. 


Ill 

'  PLYMOUTH  DIARISTS 

Thirteen  years  after  one  hundred  Englishmen  landed  in 
Virginia  amid  the  bloom  and  fragrance  of  the  southern 
springtime,  another  hundred  disembarked  on  the  bleak 
coast  of  Cape  Cod  in  the  dead  of  winter.  Both  companies 
were  English;  so  were  Charles  the  First  and  Cromwell 
and  the  two  great  parties  of  Churchmen  and  Puritans  — 
Cavaliers  and  Eoundheads,  as  they  called  each  other. 
The  four  hundred  miles  of  coast  between  the  two  settle- 
ments may  stand  for  the  difference  between  them  in 
several  particulars. 

With  respect  to  what  may  be  called  their  literature, 
there  is  no  greater  diversity  than  in  their  religious,  political, 
and  social  principles  and  customs.  Both  used,  and  helped 
to  preserve,  the  English  speech  of  their  time ;  but  each 
colony  had  its  own  way  of  looking  at  things  temporal  and 
spiritual,  and  each  had  a  landscape  of  its  own  to  contem- 
plate and  a  climate  of  its  own  to  enjoy  or  contend  with. 
These  and  other  causes  made  the  thoughts  of  the  New  Eng- 
land farmers  and  fishermen  differ  from  those  of  the  Virginia 
planters.  For  example,  while  southern  immigrants  came 
here  for  gain  or  adventure,  having  no  quarrel  with  church 
or  state  at  home,  the  northern  contingent  left  England  in 
order  to  secure  for  themselves  a  larger  liberty  in  religious 
matters.     This   liberty,  however,  was  to  be  enjoyed  by 

20 


Plymouth  Diarists  21 

themselves  exclusively,  or  by  those  who  should  be  of  their 
way  of  thinking.  Such  purposes  produced  marked  char- 
acteristics in  their  writings  —  first  a  pietistic  element, 
later  a  polemic,  and  finally  a  pugilistic. 

It  should  be  observed  that  neither  of  these  features  was 
disagreeably  present  in  the  earliest  of  their  compositions. 
The   principal   writers   were   in  the  mood  to 

iustify  their  separation  from  the  mother  coun-  E™iy  writ- 
ings, 
try  by  a  fair-minded   setting   forth   of  their 

reasons  for  leaving  it,  having  all  the  while  a  certain  home- 
sick regard  for  much  that  they  had  left  behind.  Moreover, 
at  first  they  were  men  of  balanced  minds,  with  a  restraint 
in  their  speech  bred  of  the  consciousness  that  their  readers 
were  to  be  the  great  public  in  Britain,  upon  whose  good  will 
the  prosperity  of  their  enterprise  was  largely  dependent. 
Accordingly  the  first  letters  at  Plymouth  were  pervaded 
with  the  sobriety  of  the  colonist  whose  conscience  had  sent 
him  adrift  from  the  land  he  loved. 

William  Bradford  is  the  earliest  of  these  chroniclers, 
whose  record  of  the  first  twenty-seven  years  of  Plymouth 
history  became  the  quarry  from  which  subse- 
quent   compilers    dug    much    material.      The  Bradford's 
original  manuscript,  long  lost  and  detained  in 
England,  was  received  in  1897  from  the  Bishop  of  London 
by  the  State  of  Massachusetts  at  the  hands  of  the  American 
ambassador  with  almost  as  much  reverent  ceremony  as  if 
the  author  himself   had  returned   to  Boston.     Next   to 
reading  this  document,  now  two  hundred  and  fifty  years 
old,  is  the  easier  privilege  of  perusing  the  fair  new  copy 
with  facsimile  illustration,  published  in  1898  by  the  Com- 
monwealth of  Massachusetts.     Only  a  paragraph  or  two 
can  be  cited  here  to  illustrate  the  equable  temper  and 


12  American  Literature 

straightforward  narration  of  the  second  colonial  governor 
and  the  plain  English  of  a  scholarly  man  who  could  speak 
or,  like  Bekker,  be  silent  in  five  languages.  They  certainly 
had  not  smothered  the  clear .  Saxon  and  the  strong  idioms 
of  his  mother  tongue. 

*'For  these  and  some  other  reasons  they  [the  English  pil- 
grims] removed  to  Leyden,  a  fair  and  beautiful  city  and  of  sweet 
situation,  but  made  more  famous  by  the  university  wherewith 
it  is  adorned,  in  which  of  late  had  been  so  many  learned  men. 
But  wanting  that  traffic  by  sea  which  Amsterdam  enjoys,  it  was 
not  beneficial  for  their  outward  means  of  living  and  estates. 
But  now  being  here  pitched  they  fell  to  such  trades  and  em- 
ployments as  they  best  could,  balancing  peace  and  their  spiritual 
comfort  above  any  other  riches  whatsoever.  And  at  length 
they  came  to  raise  a  competent  and  comfortable  living,  but 
with  hard  and  continual  labor." 

Later  follows  an  account  of  the  departure  from  Holland, 
of  delays  and  reverses  in  getting  away  from  England,  of  a 
tempestuous  voyage,  and  finally  of  the  arrival  at  Cape  Cod. 

"  Being  thus  arrived  in  a  good  harbor  and  brought  safe  to  land, 
they  fell  upon  their  knees  and  blessed  ye  God  of  heaven  who  had 
brought  them  over  ye  vast  and  furious  ocean,  and  delivered  them 
from  all  the  perils  and  miseries  therof,  againe  to  set  their  feete  on 
ye  firme  and  stable  earth,  their  proper  elemente.  And  no  mar- 
veil  if  they  were  thus  joyefull,  seeing  wise  Seneca  was  so  affected 
with  sailing  a  few  miles  on  ye  coast  of  his  own  Italy  ;  as  he 
affirmed  that  he  had  rather  remaine  twentie  years  on  his  way 
by  land,  than  pass  by  sea  to  any  place  in  a  short  time ;  so 
tedious  and  dreadfull  was  ye  same  unto  him.  .  .  . 

"  And  for  the  reason  that  it  was  winter,  and  they  that  know 
the  winters  of  that  country  know  them  to  be  sharp  and  violent 
and  subject  to  cruel  and  fierce  storms,  dangerous  to  travel  to 
known  places,  much  more  to  search  an  unknown  coast. 


Plymouth  Diarists  23 

"Besides,  what  could  they  see  but  a  hideous  and  desolate 
wilderness,  full  of  wild  beasts  and  wild  men?  And  what 
multitudes  there  might  be  of  them  they  knew  not.  ...  If 
they  looked  behind  them  there  was  the  mighty  ocean  which 
they  had  passed  and  was  now  as  a  main  bar  or  gulf  to  separate 
them  from  all  the  civil  parts  of  the  world." 

To  use  the  author's  words,  "  Sundry  other  things  I  pass 
over  as  being  tedious  and  not  pertinent."  OtheVs  there 
are,  full  of  the  interest  which  belongs  to  the  history  that  is 
written  as  fast  as  it  is  made,  portraying  with  graphic  partic- 
ularity the  going  out  and  the  coming  in  of  a  people.  The 
departure  of  the  "  Mayflower  "  on  the  return  voyage  ;  the 
arrival  of  the  "  Fortune  ; "  the^  treaty  with  Massasoit ;  the 
trouble  with  Lyford  and  Oldome,  and  the  castaway  crew 
which  brought  both  profit  and  disturbance ;  the  dishon- 
esty of  agents  and  factors ;  the  capture  of  Sir  Christopher 
Gardiner ;  the  arrival  of  Eoger  Williams ;  the  settlement 
on  the  Connecticut  and  trouble  on  the  Kennebec.;  the 
meddlesome  French;  a  hurricane  on  the  coast;  the  fight 
with  the  Pequots,  and  finally  the  "  breaking  out  of  sundry 
notorious  sins,"  and  the  punishment  according  to  Mosaic 
law,  —  such  incidents  and  events  are  faithfully  and 
impartially  set  down  in  a  charitable  temper  and  with  as 
true  a  sense  of  proportionate  importance  as  a  chronicler 
of  a  little  neighborhood  can  be  expected  to  have.  Most ; 
remarkable  for  that  time  is  an  unusual  freedom  from  ■ 
imputing  the  disasters  of  enemies  to  the  judgment  of 
heaven,  and  not  too  much  assuming  that  the  settlers  at 
Plymouth  were  the  chosen  people  of  the  new  dispensation. 
In  short,  Bradford  represents  the  hard  common  sense 
which  the  first  colonists  brought  with  them;  and  his 
plain  annals,  year  after  year,  are  the  unbiased  record  of 


24  American  Literature 

a  humble  but  sturdy  people,  conscious  of  a  high  mission 
which  they  girded  themselves  to  fulfil. 

It  is  not  easy  to  say  which  is  the  most  interesting 
portion  of  this  fascinating  record  of  a  quarter  of  a  century, 
extending  through  five  hundred  pages  and  more  in  the 
edition  of  1898.  The  American  citizen  who  takes  up  this 
chronicle  of  origins  will  not  dismiss  it  half  read.  He  will 
be  pleased  to  note  how  the  experiment  of  a  community  of 
goods,  which  every  fresh  settlement  must  try,  turned  out 
at  Plymouth :  — 

**  So  they  begane  to  thinke  how  they  might  raise  as  much 
corne  as  they  could,  and  obtain  a  better  crope  then  they  had 
done  that  they  might  not  still  thus  languish  in  miserie.  At 
length,  after  much  debate  of  things  the  Gov""  (with  the  advise 
of  the  cheefest  among  them)  gave  way  that  they  should  set 
corne  every  man  for  his  owne  perticuler,  and  in  that  regard 
trust  to  them  selves ;  in  all  other  things  to  goe  on  in  ye  geneerall 
way  as  before.  And  so  assigned  to  every  family  a  parcell  of 
land.  .  .  .  This  had  very  good  success ;  for  it  made  all  hands 
very  industrious,  so  as  more  corne  was  planted  then  other  waise 
would  have  bene  by  any  means.  .  .  .  The  women  now  wente 
willingly  into  the  field,  and  tooke  their  little-ons  with  them  to 
set  corne,  which  before  would  aledg  weaknes,  and  inabilitie  ; 
whom  to  have  compelled  would  have  been  thought  great  tiranie 
and  oppression. 

"  The  experience  that  was  had  in  this  comon  course  and  condi- 
tion, tried  sundrie  years,  and  that  amongst  godly  and  sober  men, 
may  well  evince  the  vanitie  of  that  conceit  of  Plato's  and  other 
ancients,  applauded  by  some  of  later  times  ;  —  that  the  taking 
away  of  propertie,  and  bringing  in  communitie  into  a  comone 
wealth,  would  make  them  happy  and  flourishing  ;  as  if  they  were 
wiser  than  God.  For  this  comunitie  (so  farr  as  it  was)  was 
found  to  breed  much  confusion  and  discontent,  and  retard  much 
imployment  that  would  have  been  to  theii  benefite  and  com  forte. 


Plymouth  Diarists  25 

"  For  ye  yong-men  that  were  most  able  and  fitte  for  labour  and 
service  did  repine  that  they  should  spend  their  time  and  streingth 
to  worke  for  other  men's  wives  and  children,  without  any  recom- 
pence.  .  .  .  And  for  men's  wives  to  be  commanded  to  doe 
servise  for  other  men,  as  dresing  their  meate,  washing  their 
cloathes,  <fec.  they  deemed  it  a  kind  of  slaverie,  neither  could 
many  husbands  well  brooke  it.  .  .  .  Let  none  object  this  is 
men's  corruption  and  nothing  to  the  course  itself.  I  answer, 
seeing  all  men  have  this  course  in  them,  God  in  his  wisdom 
saw  another  course  fiter  for  them." 


Edward  Winslow  was  the  associate  of  Bradford,  keep- 
ing what  may  be  called  a  day-book  as  compared  with 
Bradford's  ponderous  year-book.  This  journal  Edward 
begins  with  the  departure  from  England  Sep-  W"^^^°^- 
tember  6,  1620,  summarizing  the  two  months'  voyage  in  a 
single  line,  and  taking  up  the  continuous  record  on  the 
day  they  sighted  land,  November  9th.  For  forty  days 
there  is  the  account  of  attempts  to  find  a  suitable  place 
in  which  to  settle,  the  Little  shallop  hovering  and  flitting 
about  like  a  distrustful  bird.  On  board  the  "  Mayflower  " 
there  were  signs  of  faction  and  along  shore  of  Indians.  So 
the  famous  compact  was  made  and  signed,  and  the  same 
day  were  *'set  ashore  fifteen  or  sixteen  men  well  armed 
to  see  what  the  land  was  and  what  the  inhabitants  they 
could  meet  with."  The  narrative  of  these  first  amphibious 
days  reads  like  the  story  of  a  winter  picnic  on  a  desolate 
coast.  There  is  no  woeful  lamentation  over  the  necessity 
of  wading  ashore  in  icy  brine  —  only  the  simple  observa- 
tion that  colds  were  caught  which  were  the  death  of  many 
during  the  winter.  The  chief  regret  is  for  lack  of  fish- 
hooks and  harpoons,  but  this  is  counterbalanced  by 
delight  at  finding   corn  and  beans  hidden,  which  the 


26  American  Literature 

discoverers  took  with  the  inward  promise  of  paying  for  it 
in  the  future  —  as  they  did.  The  account  of  the  first 
encounter  with  savages  and  their  college  yell,  "Woach, 
woach,  ha  ha  hach  woach,"  is  not  in  the  recent  style  of 
the  cowboy  novel  Breaking  camp  and  advancing  "  after 
prayer,"  but  with  their  powder  dry,  the  vanguard  soon 
came  running  in  with  arrows  flying  after  them.  "  In  the 
meantime  Captain  Miles  Standish,  having  a  snaphance 
ready,  made  a  shot  and  after  him  another.  The  cry  of 
our  enemies  was  dreadful."  At  last  the  chief  was  hit 
and  ran  away  "with  an  extraordinary  cry.  Thus  it 
pleased  God  to  vanquish  our  enemies  and  give  us  deliver- 
ance. So  after  we  had  given  God  thanks  we  took  our 
shallop  and  went  on  our  journey  "  toward  Plymouth. 

"  And  coming  upon  a  strange  Hand  we  kept  our  watch  all  night 
in  the  raine  upon  that  Hand :  and  in  the  morning  we  marched 
about  it  and  found  no  Inhabitants  at  all,  and  here  wee  made  our 
Randevous  all  that  day,  being  Saturday. 

"  10.  of  December  [0.  S.],  on  the  Sabboth  day  wee  rested,  and 
on  Munday  we  sounded  the  Harbour  of  Plymouth  and  found  it 
a  very  good  Harbour  for  our  shipping.  We  marched  also  into  the 
Land,  and  found  divers  corne  fields,  and  little  running  brookes, 
a  place  very  good  for  situation,  so  we  returned  to  our  Ship 
againe  with  good  newes  to  the  rest  of  our  people,  which  did 
much  comfort  their  hearts." 

The  first  clause  of  this  last  sentence,  —  "  We  marched 
also  into  the  land,"  is  the  plain  record  of  the  first  landing, 
on  the  21st  of  December  [JST.  S.],  1620,  of  the  ten  Pilgrim 
pioneers,  to  wit,  Standish,  Carver,  Bradford,  Winslow,  John 
Tilley,  Edward  Tilley,  John  Howland,  Richard  Warren, 
Stephen  Hopkins,  and  Edward  Doten,  with  seven  of  the 
ship's  company. 


Plymouth  Diarists  27 

The  unadorned  simplicity  of  the  statement  is  worthy  of 
the  first  step  of  a  "  march  into  the  land  "  which  has  been 
going  on  ever  since  in  the  same  westward  direction.  There 
is  no  dramatic  account  of  planting  the  British  flag,  as  there 
certainly  could  have  been  no  planting  of  a  cross,  after  the 
manner  of  other  pioneers. 

The  story  of  the  second  landing  is  told  in  a  record  of 
repeated  ventures  ashore  of  small  parties  and  their  return 
to  the  ship  (lying  a  mile  and  a  half  away)  through  a 
period  of  forty  days.     Then  follow  these  brief  entries :  — 

"Saturday  30.  [Jan.]  we  made  up  our  Shed  for  our 
common  goods." 

"  Sunday  the  31.  we  kept  our  Meeting  on  Land." 

But  one  looks  in  vain  for  any  line  that  could  be  written 
under  the  familiar  picture  of  the  "Landing  of  the  Pil- 
grims." However,  the  Nation  which  then  and  there  came 
ashore  has  been  faithful  to  the  tradition  of  the  elders,  and 
has  evermore  kept  its  goods  dry  and  also  kept  its  meetings 
sacredly  on  Sunday,  however  great  the  seeming  necessity 
of  labor.  And  then  an  equally  characteristic  line :  "  On 
Munday  the  1  [Feb.]  we  wrought  on  our  houses,  and  the 
rest  of  the  weeke  we  followed  our  business  likewise." 

In  all  this  journal,  which  is  continued  for  thirteen 
months,  there  is  the  same  plain  and  unaffected  simplicity 
of  narration  where  heroic  doing  and  suffering  are  recounted, 
and  the  almost  childlike  joy  at  any  little  measure  of  good 
fortune.  The  best  commendation  of  the  unadorned  record 
is  to  say,  that  it  sets  down  the  truth  as  it  appeared  to  men 
of  strong  sense,  having  spirit  and  zealous  purpose  to  do 
well  the  hard  task  they  had  undertaken.  As  a  document 
it  is  a  minute  and  faithful  account  of  the  first  year  in  the 
northern  colony,  as  Bradford's  History  was  that  of  the  first 


28  American  Literature 

twenty-five  years.  Winslow  continued  his  part  of  the 
journal  for  two  years  more  in  his  "  Good  News  from  New 
England."  As  writers  they  both  had  the  historian's  dis- 
crimination in  omitting  irrelevant  and  trivial  matters  when 
the  temptation  to  mention  such  must  have  been  great  in 
the  narrowness  of  the  place  and  time  of  their  writing. 

Besides  the  above,  Governor  Bradford  wrote  "A  Dialogue 
Between  Some  Young  Men  in  New  England  and  Sundry 
Ancient  Men  out  of  Holland  and  Old  England,"  also  a 
"  Memoir  of  Elder  William  Brewster."  Winslow  wrote  a 
"  Brief  Narration  of  the  True  Grounds  or  Cause  of  the  First 
Planting  of  New  England."  All  these  and  more  may  be 
read  in  "  Young's  Chronicles  of  the  Pilgrim  Fathers,''  to 
be  found  in  any  collection  of  works  on  early  colonial 
history.  Together  they  constitute  the  sum  of  what  is 
worth  reading  among  the  writings  of  the  first  decade  in 
the  Plymouth  plantation.  They  are  as  true  and  honest, 
as  simple  and  unaffected  as  the  social  life  they  record,  and 
sometimes  as  picturesque  as  the  surroundings  they  describe. 
Afterward  came  another  manner,  with  a  fresh  influx  of 
colonists  not  like  the  first,  and  new  elements  began  to 
appear  in  a  literature  that  was  in  many  respects  primitive, 
and  features  were  added  which  lacked  the  homely  sim- 
plicity of  the  heroic  age. 


IV 

THREE  BAY  MEN 

Thomas  Morton  of  Merry  Mount  was  a  settler  and  a 
writer  who  did  not  allow  himself  or  his  writings  to  be 
overlooked  by  the  men  of  Plymouth.  Into  Thomas 
their  perpendicular  life  he  plunged  with  music 
and  dancing.  Between  their  sombre  lines  he  scribbled 
with  porcupine's  quill.  Accordingly,  though  he  lived 
thirty  miles  away  by  Indian  trail,  they  sent  him  three 
thousand  miles  by  ship  as  soon  as  they  could.  "  Morton 
of  Clifford's  inn,  gent,"  as  he  subscribed  himself,  was  a  left- 
over sample  of  the  independent  fortune-hunters  who  now 
and  then  made  their  way  to  these  shores.  His  was  an 
instance  of  the  survival  of  the  strongest  in  Captain 
Wallaston's  little  company,  which  came  to  Massachusetts 
Bay  in  1625.  He  gathered  discontented  fellows  and 
Indians  about  him,  trading  with  the  last  in  the  dangerous 
currency  of  rum  and  muskets,  powder  and  ball.  He  also 
set  up  a  maypole,  around  which  he  held  greenwood 
revelry,  composing  "a  song  to  be  sung  with  a  chorus, 
every  man  bearing  his  part."  It  is  one  of  the  freaks  of 
literary  history  that  the  first  effusion  of  the  poetic  muse 
in  staid  New  England  should  run  as  follows : 

"  Make  green  garlands,  bring  bottles  out, 
And  fill  sweet  nectar  freely  about ; 
Uncover  thy  head,  and  fear  no  harm. 
For  here  's  good  liquor  to  keep  it  warm," 

with  other  stanzas  and  a  chorus  to  correspond. 

29 


30  American  Literature 

Barring  their  bacchanalian  spirit,  they  are  far  superior 
in  execution  to  the  Bay  psalmistry,  which  the  theologic 
muse  travailed  to  produce  in  all  that  century.  As  for 
their  beery  flavor,  the  Pilgrims  themselves  had  not  taken 
the  temperance  pledge,  though  the  trade  in  New  England 
rum  had  not  yet  begun,  and  "  good  ale  was  still  the  load- 
stone by  which  Englishmen  steered  their  course." 

Morton's  "  New  English  Canaan  "  is  like  many  of  the 
descriptions  of  the  country  which  immigrants  were  con- 
tinually making,  partly  in  the  spirit  of  discovery 
English  in  a  strange  land  and  partly  as  an  inducement 

Canaan."  ,        ^  r         J 

for  friends  to  follow.  The  most  of  it  was 
written  during  one  of  his  compulsory  visits  in  England, 
but  as  he  returned  to  end  his  days  on  the  coast  of  Maine 
it  may  be  regarded  as  no  less  American  than  some  of 
John  Smith's  narratives.  He  proves,  as  many  writers 
since  have  proved,  that  "  New  England  is  the  principal 
part  of  all  America;"  discourses  of  the  natives,  their 
origin,  their  customs;  of  the  country,  its  beasts,  birds, 
and  fishes,  its  trees,  minerals,  and  waters ;  of  battles,  pow- 
wows, and  revels ;  and  finally  of  the  "  Nine  Worthies  of 
New  Canaan,"  who  put  him  in  durance  vile,  and  how  he 
"  played  Jonas  after  he  got  out  of  the  whale's  belly,"  with 
many  other  things  which  "  Captain  Shrimp  "  (Miles  Stan- 
dish)  and  his  company  did  not  relish  when  they  read  the 
sprightly  account  of  their  doings  to  this  Eobin  Hood,  an 
outlaw  in  the  New  Forest  of  Massachusetts  Bay.  If  they 
had  possessed  the  least  sense  of  humor  —  a  scarce  article 
in  that  decade  —  they  would  have  laughed  in  their 
sleeves  over  his  description  of  their  position  "betwixt 
Hawk  and  Buzzard ; "  of  laymen  "  exercising  their  gifts 
by  way  of  prophecy,  so  they  do  not  make  use  of  any 


Three  Bay  Men  31 

notes  to  help  their  memory ; "  of  the  court  that  con- 
demned him  to  the  bilbowes  and  burned  his  house;  of 
the  preacher  who  traded  for  a  beaver  coat  after  a  sermon 
against  Sunday  barter,  and  of  his  own  exile  upon  an 
island  for  savages  to  succor.  This  is  his  account  of  the 
affair. 

"  How  the  9  worthies  piit  mine  Host  of  Ma-re  Mount  into  the 
inchaunted  Castle  at  Plimouth,  and  terrified  him  with  the  Monster 
Briar  eus, 

"  The  nine  worthies  of  New  Canaan  having  the  Law  in  their 
owne  hands,  (there  being  no  generall  Governour  in  the  Land ; 
nor  none  of  the  separation  that  regarded  the  duety  they  owe 
their  Soveraigne,  whose  natural  born  Subjects  they  were,  though 
translated  out  of  Holland,  from  whence  they  had  learned  to 
worke  all  to  their  owne  ends,  and  make  a  great  shewe  of  Reli- 
gion, but  no  humanity,)  for  they  were  now  to  sit  in  Counsell 
on  the  cause. 

"  And  much  it  stood  mine  honest  Host  upon  [Morton  himself] 
to  be  very  circumspect,  and  to  take  Eacus  to  taske  ;  for  that  hia 
voyce  was  more  allowed  of  than  both  the  other :  and  had  not 
mine  Host  confounded  all  the  arguments  that  Eacus  could  make 
in  their  defence,  and  confuted  him  that  swaied  the  rest,  they 
would  have  made  him  unable  to  drinke  in  such  manner  of 
merriment  any  more.  So  that  following  this  private  counsell, 
given  him  by  one  who  ruled  the  rost,  the  Hircano  ceased  that 
els  would  split  his  pinace. 

"  A  conclusion  was  made  and  sentince  given  that  mine  Host 
should  be  sent  to  England  a  prisoner.  But  when  hee  was 
brought  to  the  shipps  for  that  purpose,  no  man  durst  be  so  foole 
hardy  as  to  undertake  to  carry  him.  So  these  worthies  set  mine 
Host  upon  an  Island,  without  gunne,  powther,  or  shot  or  dogge 
or  so  much  as  a  knife  to  get  any  thinge  to  feed  upon,  or  any 
other  cloathes  to  shelter  him  with  at  winter  then  a  thinne  suite 
which  he  had  on  at  that  time.  Home  hee  could  not  get  to  Ma-re 
Mount.    Upon  this  Island  hee  stayed  a  month  at  least,  and  was 


32  American  Literature 

releaved  by  Salvages  that  tooke  notice  that  mine  Host  was  a 
Sachem  of  Passonagessit,  and  would  bring  bottles  of  strong 
liquor  to  him,  and  unite  themselves  into  a  league  of  brotherhood 
with  mine  Host ;  so  full  of  humanity  are  these  infidels  before 
those  Christians. 

"  From  this  place  for  England  sailed  mine  Host  in  a  Plimouth 
j-shipp,  (that  came  into  the  Land  to  fish  upon  the  Coast,)  that 
landed  him  safe  in  England  at  Plimouth  :  and  hee  staid  in 
England  untill  the  ordinary  time  for  shipping  to  set  forth  for 
these  parts,  and  then  retorned  :  Noe  man  being  able  to  taxe  him 
of  any  thinge.  But  the  Worthies,  (in  the  mean  time,)  hoped 
they  had  binn  rid  of  him." 

Of  all  this  and  more  the  forefathers  could  not  see  the 
amusing  side,  as  cheerfully  depicted  by  an  interloper  who 
had  not  deserted  the  Church  of  England  and  had  brought 
with  him  a  love  of  English  sports  and  principles  of  free 
trade  deemed  subversive  of  the  commonwealth.  With  all 
this  bad  form,  however  —  and  some  of  it  cropped  out  in 
his  composition  —  he  introduced  into  the  dreary  diarizing 
of  the  time  spicy  features  which  will  save  his  chronicle 
from  the  fate  of  better,  but  less  interesting  books.  Those 
who  wish  to  read  this  view  of  New  England  will  find  it 
in  the  third  volume  of  "Force's  Tracts,"  and  in  the 
Adams  annotated  edition  of  the  Prince  Society,  Boston, 
1883.  Hawthorne,  Motley,  and  Parkman  have  made 
Merry  Mount  and  its  lord  of  misrule  the  subject  of 
story. 

It  has  been  supposed  that  the  ungentle  and  dreary 
aspects  of  nature  always  encompassed  the  lives  of  the  first 
settlers.  With  all  his  mishaps  at  their  hands,  Morton 
did  not  so  regard  the  "  New  Canaan  " : 

"In  the  moneth  of  June,  Anno  Salutis  1622,  it  was  my 
chaunce  to  arrive  in  the  parts  of  New  England  with  30  Servants 


Three  Bay  Men  33 

and  provision  of  all  sorts  fit  for  a  plantation :  and  whiles  our 
houses  were  building  I  did  indeavour  to  take  a  survey  of  the 
Country :  The  more  I  looked  the  more  I  liked  it.  And  when  I 
had  more  seriously  considered  of  the  bewty  of  the  place,  with  all 
her  faire  indowments,  I  did  not  thioke  that  in  all  the  knowne 
world  it  could  be  parallel'd,  for  so  many  goodly  groves  of  trees, 
dainty  fine  round  rising  hillocks,  delicate  faire  large  plaines, 
sweete  cristall  fountaines,  and  cleare  running  streames  that  twine 
in  fine  meanders  through  the  meads,  making  so  sweete  a  murmur- 
ing noise  to  heare  as  would  even  lull  the  sences  with  delight  to 
sleepe,  so  pleasantly  doe  they  glide  upon  the  pebble  stones. 
Contained  within  the  volume  of  this  Land  [are]  Fowles  in 
abundance,  Fish  in  multitude ;  and  I  discovered,  besides,  millions 
of  Turtledoves  on  the  greene  boughes,  which  sat  pecking  of  the 
full  ripe  pleasant  grapes  that  were  supported  by  the  lusty  trees, 
whose  fruitfull  loade  did  cause  the  armes  to  bend  :  among  which 
here  and  there  dispersed,  you  might  see  Lillies  and  of  the 
Daphnean  tree :  which  made  the  Land  to  mee  seeme  paradice ; 
Her  Cheefest  Magazine  of  all  where  lives  her  store :  if  this  Land 
be  not  rich,  then  is  the  whole  world  poore." 

The  enumeration  of  fish,  flesh,  and  fowl  that  follows 
would  make  a  sportsman's  mouth  water.  In  this  par- 
ticular there  is  probably  more  foundation  for  his  statements 
than  in  some  others  which  he  makes  with  corresponding 
extravagance. 

John  Winthrop  was  leader  of  the  Puritan  migration  to 
the  Bay  of  Massachusetts  ten  years  after  the  Pilgrims 
landed  at  Plymouth.  These  nine  hundred  later  ,^^ 
colonists  were  generally  men  of  means,  educa-  ^*"*^*"°p- 
tion,  and  position,  strongly  attached  to  their  native  land 
and  its  church,  as  distinct  from  ceremonies  and  government. 
Settled  here,  their  leader  became  their  governor  and  his- 
torian, who  began  his  diurnal  record  on  the  day  they  sailed 
from  the  Isle  of  Wight,  and  continued  it  for  forty  years  in 

3 


34  American  Literature 

the  wilderness.  It  is  a  faithful  reflection  of  himself  and 
of  the  life  which  the  community  led  day  after  day.  The 
consciousness  of  planting  an  empire  is  always  present, 
therefore  the  record  is  always  grave  and  sometimes  solemn 
with  a  more  than  present  importance.  In  this  early  morn- 
ing of  American  civilization  the  shadows  cast  by  everything 
were  long,  and  the  primitive  chronicler  did  not  see  how 
short  some  of  them  would  grow  as  the  day  wore  on.  Little 
events  were  mixed  with  greater  ones  in  the  necessity  of 
recording  something  every  day.  The  joumalizer  is  positive 
that  small  occurrences  in  the  beginning  of  a  nation  have 
an  importance  that  will  grow  with  its  growth.  Therefore 
he  writes  down  with  equal  fidelity  the  drowning  of  his  son 
Henry,  and  the  killing  of  six  calves  by  wolves.  The 
execution  of  Billington  for  murder  and  the  burning  of  the 
minister's  haystack  are  events  of  corresponding  value.  So 
are  a  conference  of  elders  and  the  explosion  of  an  over- 
loaded musket,  also  a  burning  chimney  and  the  calling  of 
John  Eliot  as  teacher  of  the  church  at  Koxbury.  The 
straying  of  a  calf  and  the  wandering  of  the  governor  a 
night  in  the  forest  divide  his  attention  about  equally  in 
making  history.  But  historians  of  the  United  States  to-day 
find  no  permanent  value  in  the  statement  that  Dalkin's 
dog  drew  goodwife  Dalkin  out  of  the  flood  to  her  excited 
but  cautious  husband  standing  on  the  bank;  or  that  a 
great  light  was  seen  hovering  over  Muddy  Kiver  and 
strange  voices  were  heard  over  the  bay.  Not  even  the  trial 
of  the  governor  for  exceeding  his  authority  has  the  interest 
of  his  famous  definition  of  liberty  in  his  defence  of  himself : 
"  Liberty  to  do  that  only  which  is  good,  just  and  honest  — 
maintained  and  exercised  in  a  way  of  subjection  to  author- 
ity, instead  of  doing  what  is  good  in  your  own  eyes." 


Three  Bay  Men  35 

It  is  in  this  speech  that  he  rises  out  of  and  above  the 
petty  concerns  of  his  neighborhood  to  something  like 
statesmanship.     So   also  his  clear-mindedness 

England.' 


.  T      .    .  e       1         His  "History 

may  be  discerned  m  many  decisions  of  the  °f^f^. 


general  court  over  which  he  presided  and  in 
whose  documents  his  hand  is  visible.  These,  however,  are 
entangled  in  a  great  multitude  of  grave  observations  about 
special  providences  for  the  elect  and  dire  judgments  upon 
the  profane,  about  signs  and  wonders,  monstrosities  and 
superstitions,  divisions  and  disorders  in  the  church  and 
commonwealth,  with  scandals  and  crimes  in  the  commu- 
nity. And  yet  these  sombre  jottings  have  the  creepy 
fascination  that  belongs  to  a  ghost  story,  with  the  sad 
satisfaction  that  most  of  the  record  was  true,  or  seemed 
true,  to  the  sincere  chronicler  of  a  gruesome  time  and  a 
gloomy  people.  The  temptation  to  cite  passage  after  pass- 
age is  great,  and  the  inclination  to  read  on  and  on  will  be 
irresistible  to  any  who  once  begin  this  vivid  recital  of  co- 
lonial experiences  and  singular  occurrences  in  and  around 
Boston  from  1630  to  1649.     For  example :  — 

1635.  Jan.  "The  governour  and  his  assistants  met  at 
Boston  to  consider  about  Mr.  [Roger]  "Williams,  for  that  they 
were  credibly  informed  that  notwithstanding  the  injunction  laid 
upon  him  not  to  go  about  to  draw  others  to  his  opinion  he  did 
use  to  entertain  company  in  his  house,  and  to  preach  to  them ; 
and  it  was  agreed  to  send  him  into  England  by  a  ship  then  ready 
to  depart.  The  reason  was,  because  he  had  drawn  above  twenty 
persons  to  his  opinion,  and  they  were  intended  to  erect  a  plan- 
tation about  the  Narragansett  Bay  from  whence  the  infection 
would  easily  spread  into  these  churches  (the  people  being  many 
of  them,  much  taken  with  the  apprehension  of  his  godliness)." 

1638.  "At  Providence,  also,  the  devil  was  not  idle.  For 
whereas,  at  their  first  coming  thither,  Mr.  Williams  and  the  rest 


3 6  American  Literature 

did  make  an  order  that  no  man  should  be  molested  for  his 
conscience,  now  men's  wives,  and  children,  and  servants,  claimed 
liberty  hereby  to  go  to  all  religious  meetings,  though  never  so 
often  or  though  private,  upon  the  week  days  ;  and  because  one 
Verin  refused  to  let  his  wife  go  to  Mr.  AVilliams  so  oft  as  she 
was  called  for,  they  required  to  have  him  censured.  .  .  .  Some 
were  of  the  opinion  that  if  Verin  would  not  suffer  his  wife  to 
have  her  liberty,  the  church  should  dispose  her  to  some  other 
man  who  would  use  her  better." 

1638.  "A  printing  house  was  begun  at  Cambridge  by  one 
Daye.  The  first  thing  which  was  printed  was  the  freeman's 
oath  ;  the  next  was  an  almanac  made  for  jSTew  England  by  Mr. 
William  Pierce,  mariner ;  the  next  was  the  Psalms  newly  turned 
into  metre." 

1641 .  "  The  sentence  against  Fairfield  was,  that  he  should  be 
severely  whipped  at  Boston  and  at  Salem,  and  confined  to  Boston 
neck,  upon  pain  of  death  if  he  went  out,  etc.,  he  should  have 
one  nostril  slit  and  seared  at  Boston,  and  the  other  at  Salem, 
and  to  wear  a  halter  about  his  neck  visibly  all  his  life,  or  to  be 
whipped  every  time  he  was  seen  abroad  witliout  it,  and  to  die 
if  he  attempted  the  like  upon  any  person,  and  £40  to  Mr. 
Humfrey." 

1643.  "About  midnight,  three  men,  coming  in  a  boat  to 
Boston,  saw  two  lights  arise  out  of  the  water  near  the  north 
point  of  the  town  cove,  in  form  like  a  man,  and  went  at  a  small 
distance  to  the  town,  and  so  to  the  south  point,  and  there  van- 
ished away.  The  like  was  seen  by  many  a  week  after.  A  light 
like  the  moon  arose  about  the  Is".  E.  point  in  Boston,  and  met 
another  at  Nettle's  Island,  where  they  closed  in  one,  and  then 
parted,  divers  times  and  so  went  over  the  hill  and  vanished. 
Sometimes  they  shot  out  flames  and  sparkles.  About  the  same 
time  a  voice  was  heard  upon  the  water  between  Boston  and 
Dorchester,  calling  out  in  a  most  dreadful  manner,  boy,  boy, 
come  away,  come  away.  It  was  heard  by  divers  godly  persons. 
About    14  days   after   the  same  voice   in   the  same   dreadful 


Three  Bay  Men  37 

manner  was  heard  by  others  on  the  other  side  of  the  town 
towards  Nottle's  Island." 

1643.  "  The  *  Trial/  the  first  ship  built  in  Boston,  being  about 
160  tons  was  sent  to  Belboa  with  fish  which  she  sold  there  at 
good  rate,  and  arrived  here  laden  with  wine,  fruit,  oil,  iron,  wool ; 
which  was  a  great  advantage  to  the  country,  and  gave  encour- 
agement to  trade." 

1644.  "About  nine  in  the  evening  there  fell  a  great  flame 
of  fire  down  in  the  water  towards  Pullen  Point ;  it  lighted  the 
air  far  about :  it  was  no  lightening,  for  the  sky  was  very  clear." 

1645.  "There  appeared  about  noon,  upon  the  north  side  of 
the  sun,  a  great  part  of  a  circle  like  a  rainbow,  with  the  horns 
reversed,  and  upon  each  side  of  the  sun,  east  and  west,  a  bright 
light.  And  about  a  month  after  that  two  suns  at  sunrising,  the 
one  continued  close  to  the  horizon,  while  the  other  (which  was 
the  true  sun)  arose  about  half  an  hour.  At  Ipswich  there  was 
a  calf  brought  forth  with  one  head,  and  three  mouths,  three  noses 
and  six  eyes.  What  these  prodigies  portended  the  Lord  only 
knows,  which  in  due  time  he  will  manifest." 

1646.  "  Mr.  Lamberton,  Mr.  Grigson,  and  divers  other  godly 
persons,  men  and  women,  went  from  New  Haven  in  the  eleventh 
month  last  in  a  ship  of  80  tons,  laden  with  wheat  for 
London ;  but  the  ship  was  never  heard  of  after.  The  loss  was 
very  great,  to  the  value  of  some  1000  pounds ;  but  the  loss  of 
the  persons  was  very  deplorable.  [Two  years  later.]  There 
appeared  over  the  harbor  at  New  Haven,  in  the  evening,  the 
form  of  a  keel  of  a  ship  with  three  masts,  to  which  were  sud- 
denly added  all  the  tackling  and  sails,  and  presently  after,  upon 
the  top  of  the  poop,  a  man  standing  with  one  hand  akimbo 
under  his  left  side,  and  in  his  right  hand  a  sword  stretched  out 
towards  the  sea.  Then  from  the  side  of  the  ship  which  was 
from  the  town  arose  a  great  smoke  which  covered  all  the  ship, 
and  in  that  smoke  she  vanished  away ;  but  some  saw  her  keel 
sink  into  the  water.  This  was  seen  by  many,  men  and  women, 
as  it  continued  about  a  quarter  of  an  hour."  [Note  the  growth 
of  this  vision  in  the  "  Magnalia"  I.  25.] 


3  8  American  Literature 

1648.  "  The  synod  met  at  Cambridge.  Mr.  Allen  preached. 
It  fell  out,  about  the  midst  of  his  sermon,  there  came  a  snake 
into  the  seat  where  many  elders  sate  behind  the  preacher. 
Divers  elders  shifted  from  it,  but  Mr.  Thomson,  one  of  the 
elders  of  Braintree,  (a  man  of  much  faith)  trode  upon  the  head 
of  it,  until  it  was  killed.  This  being  so  remarkable,  and  nothing 
falling  out  but  by  divine  providence,  it  is  out  of  doubt,  the 
Lord  discovered  somewhat  of  his  mind  in  it.  The  serpent  is 
the  devil ;  the  synod,  the  representative  of  the  churches  of  Christ 
in  New  England.  The  devil  had  formerly  and  lately  attempted 
their  disturbance  and  dissolution ;  but  their  faith  in  the  seed  of 
the  woman  overcame  him  and  crushed  his  head." 

1648.  "At  this  court  one  Margaret  Jones  of  Charlestown 
was  indicted  and  found  guilty  of  witchcraft,  and  hanged  for  it. 
The  evidence  was  1.  that  she  was  found  to  have  such  a 
malignant  touch  as  many  persons  whom  she  stroked  or  touched 
were  taken  with  deafness,  or  vomiting,  or  other  violent  pains  or 
sickness  ;  2.  she  practising  physic,  and  her  medicines  being  such 
things  as  by  her  own  confession  were  harmless,  as  aniseed,  liquors, 
etc.,  yet  had  extraordinary  violent  effects."  [And  four  other 
"  evidences  "].  "  Her  behaviour  at  her  trial  was  very  intemper- 
ate, lying  notoriously,  and  railing  upon  the  jury  and  witnesses, 
and  in  like  distemper  she  died.  The  same  day  and  hour  there 
was  a  very  great  tempest  at  Connecticut,  which  blew  down  many 
trees,  etc." 

1645.  *'Mr.  Hopkins,  the  governour  of  Hartford  upon  Con- 
necticut, came  to  Boston,  and  brought  his  wife  with  him  (a 
godly  young  woman,  and  of  special  parts,)  who  was  fallen  into 
a  sad  infirmity,  the  loss  of  her  understanding  and  reason,  which 
had  been  growing  upon  her  divers  years,  by  occasion  of  her  giv- 
ing herself  wholly  to  reading  and  writing,  and  had  written  many 
books.  If  she  had  attended  to  her  household  affairs,  and  such 
things  as  belong  to  women,  and  not  gone  out  of  her  way  and  call- 
ing to  meddle  in  such  things  as  are  proper  for  men,  whose  minds 
are  stronger,  etc.,  she  had  kept  her  wits,  and  might  have  improved 
them  usefully  and  honorably  in  the  place  God  had  sot  her." 


Three  Bay  Men  sg 

Edward  Johnson's  "  Wonder- Working  Providence  "  rep- 
resents a  third  type  of  Puritan  literature,  defending  New 
England  against  slanderous  reports  by  malcon-  Edward 
tents,  whose  letters  home  had  not  described  J°^°s°"- 
the  agricultural,  political,  and  religious  conditions  here  as 
supremely  beatific.  The  consequent  indignation  of  the 
town  clerk  of  Woburn  moved  him  to  tell  the  truth  as  he 
saw  it,  regardless  of  literary  form.  Being  a  train-band 
captain,  he  had  a  certain  valiancy  which  pervaded  his 
writing.  It  is  full  of  military  spirit  and  language,  the 
opening  chapters  resembling  an  officer's  harangue  to  his 
troops.  The  gathering  and  embarking  of  pilgrims  was  in 
his  account  the  shipping  of  an  armed  host  with  "  swords 
and  rapiers  and  all  other  piercing  weapons,  with  powder, 
bullets,  arms  of  all  sorts  and  all  kinds  of  ins-truments  of 
war." 

"  Every  common  soldier  shall  be  as  David,  who  slew  the 
great  Goliath,  and  his  Davids  shall  be  as  the  angels  of  the  Lord, 
who  slew  185,000  in  the  Assyrian  army.  Some  of  you  shall 
have  the  battering  and  beating  down,  scaling,  winning  and 
wasting  the  overtopping  towers  of  the  hierarchy,  therefore  keep 
your  weapons  in  continual  readiness,  seeing  you  are  called  to 
fight  the  battles  of  your  Lord." 

"  And  behold  the  worthies  of  Christ  as  they  are  boldly  leading 
forth  his  Troopes  into  these  Westeme  Fields,  marke  them  well 
Man  by  Man  as  they  march,  terrible  as  an  Army  with  Banners, 
croud  in  all  ye  that  long  to  see  this  glorious  sight,  see  ther  's 
their  glorious  King  Christ  on  that  white  Horse,  whose  hoofes 
like  flint  cast  not  only  sparkes,  but  flames  of  fire  in  his  pathes. 
Behold  his  Crown  beset  with  Carbunkles,  wherin  the  names  of 
his  whole  Army  are  written.  Behold  his  swiftness  all  you  that 
have  said,  where  is  the  promise  of  his  coming  ?  Listen  a  while, 
hear  what  his  herauld  proclaimes,  Babylon  is  fallen,  is  fallen, 
both  her  Doctrine  and  Lordly  rabble  of  Popes,  Cardinalls,  Lordly- 


40  American  Literature 

Bishops,  Friers,  Monks,  Nuns,  Jesuits,  Deans,  Proctors,  Chor- 
isters, Bellows-blowers,  Vergers,  Sextons,  Bel-ringers  and  all 
others  who  never  had  name  in  the  Word  of  God.  .  .  .  And  now 
behold  the  severall  Eegiments  of  these  Souldiers  of  Christ,  as 
they  are  shipped  for  this  service  in  the  Westerne  World,  a  part 
thereof  being  come  to  the  Towne  &  Port  of  Southampton  in 
England  that  they  might  prosecute  this  design  to  the  full." 

If  the  Narragansetts  and  Pequots  could  have  read  and 
understood  Captain  Johnson's  exhortation  they  would 
have  fled  as  at  the  report  of  all  the  armies  of  Europe  ad- 
vancing upon  them.  Instead,  the  Indians  were  not  so 
much  in  his  mind  as  royalists  and  men  who,  like  Win- 
throp,  were  not  in  entire  sympathy  with  the  general 
sentiment  of  the  Bay  colony.  This  ship  carpenter  and 
member  of  the  general  court  was  the  voice  of  a  separatist 
crying  in  the  wilderness  against  a  Babylon  which  he  had 
left  behind.  He  gets  excited  and  his  pen  runs  away  with 
him  in  long,  windy,  stormy  paragraphs  against  imaginary 
foes  and  evils  magnified  like  spectres  of  the  twilight. 
When  he  has  got  his  host  militant  fairly  out  of  England 
and  settled  down  to  the  drudgery  of  clearing  and  planting 
he  finds  it  difficult  to  descend  from  his  rhetorical  exalta- 
tion. Every  common  occurrence  is  a  wonder-working 
Providence,  usually  in  favor  of  the  elect  and  against  the 
non-elect,  narrated  in  resounding  phrase. 

This   may  be   partly  accounted   for  by  the  fact  that 

Johnson  was   an   example   of   the    Cromwellian   soldier 

touched  with  the   poetic  afflatus.     He  could 

der-workSig    not    always    restrict    himself   to    thundering 

Providence. 

prose.  In  his  version  of  "The  Lord's  Great 
Deliverance  of  His  New  England  People  From  the  Floods 
of  Errors  That  Were   Bursting  In  Among  Them "   and 


Three  Bay  Men  41 

"  The  Cunning  Policy  of  Satan  "  and  "  The  Lord's  Bemark- 
able  Providence  Toward  His  Indeared  Servants"  and 
similar  marvels,  he  relieves  his  overflowing  transports  by 
such  lines  as  these,  addressed  to  the  "  famous  Hugh 
Peters ; " 

*'  With  courage  bold,  Peters,  a  soldier  stout, 
In  wilderness  for  Christ  begins  to  war  ; 
Much  work  he  finds  'mongst  people,  yet  holds  out ; 
With  fluent  tongue  he  stops  frantic  jar." 

And  to  "  that  gracious,  sweet,  heavenly-minded,  soul- 
ravishing  minister,  Thomas  Shepherd  "  : 

"  No  hungry  hawk  poor  partridge  to  devour 
More  eager  is,  than  prelate's  Nimrod  power 
Thomas  to  hunt  ;  my  Shepherd  sweet  pursue 
To  sea's  brink,  but  Christ  saves  his  soul  for  you." 

And  to  John  Miller,  preacher  at  Yarmouth : 

"With  courage  bold  Miller  through  seas  doth  venter. 

To  toyl  it  out  in  this  great  western  waste, 
Thy  stature  low,  one  object  high  doth  center  ; 

Higher  than  heaven  thy  faith  on  Christ  is  placed. 
Alarm  thou  with  silver  trumpet  sound 
And  tell  the  world  Christ's  armies  are  at  hand." 

In  such  martial  and  angular  strains  does  the  first  oc- 
casional versifier  of  Massachusetts  exemplify  the  high 
crusading  spirit  which  brought  the  founders  of  the  com- 
monwealth across  the  water  and  upheld  them  amidst  foes 
real  and  imaginary,  carnal  and  spiritual,  the  Indians  and 
the  unorthodox.  He  had  followers  in  the  same  zigzag 
paths  of  poetic  violence,  as  we  shall  observe  later,  but 
none  more  zealous  for  the  ruling  idea  of  his  time  and  place 
—  an  absolute  theocracy  in  church  and  state  maintained 
by  sword  and  pen. 


42  American  Literature 

In  the  three  writers  here  mentioned  are  reflected  as 
many  phases  of  thought  freedom  to  which  emigrants  sup- 
Diverse  poscd  the  ncw  land  would  be  open.      Morton 

Views.  found  that  his  license  could  not  be  liberty  in 

Endicott's  neighborhood ;  Winthrop  concluded  that  it  was 
better  to  drift  from  his  native  middle  ground  toward  the 
Plymouth  holding,  so  long  as  it  was  tolerant ;  while 
Johnson  stood  for  the  final  alliance  of  zeal  with  authority, 
and  incidentally,  of  a  trumpeting  prose  with  an  agonizing 
verse.  But  the  elements  of  strength  and  sincerity  are  in 
both,  with  enough  of  entertainment  to  pay  for  reading 
his  "  Wonder- Working  Providence  of  Sion's  Savior  in 
New  England,"  republished  at  Andover,  1867,  and  to  be 
found,  with  the  other  volumes  above  mentioned,  in  most 
public  libraries. 


CONTROVERSY  AND  VERSE 

The  large  question  of  liberty  was  naturally  the  chief 
issue  with  those  who  had  come  to  America  with  this  as 
their  uppermost  thought.  Freedom  is  a  term 
so  inclusive  that  it  is  not  strange  that  a  volu-  ^^°^°IP^^ 
minous  literature  grew  out  of  discussions  as  to  ^^^^^^y- 
its  exact  meaning,  with  no  little  friction  between  holders 
of  diverse  opinions,  especially  when  these  opinions  were 
made  matters  of  faith  and  conscience. 

For  example,  the  church  and  state  idea  was  hard  to 
uproot  from  the  English  mind.  Three  thousand  miles  of 
sea  and  sermons  could  not  purge  it  from  Winthrop's  argo- 
nauts. It  clung  to  them  like  the  familiar  words  of  the 
Prayer  Book,  which  could  not  be  thrown  off  with  the  sur- 
plice. In  working  toward  a  "church  without  a  bishop 
and  a  state  without  a  king  "  the  traditions  of  a  thousand 
years  were  continually  hampering  their  progress,  and  those 
who  lagged  harassed  the  foremost.  Hence  a  wordy  war 
and  a  polemic  literature,  in  which  Eoger  Williams  and 
John  Cotton  are  pioneers  and  representatives  of  their  age. 

Williams  in  some  things  was  an  idealist  amid  surround- 
ing realists.     He  moved  from  point  to  point,  from  rear  to 
front,  too  fast  for  the  comfort  of  his  conserva-  j^^g^^ 
tive  neighbors.     The  momentum  he  acquired,  '^^"'*°^^- 
increased  by  sundry  kicks,  sent  him  all  the  way  from 
Salem  into  that  Ehode  Island  where  his  friend  Winthrop 

43 


44  American  Literature 

had  remarked  the  industry  of  Satan.  Then  began  the 
notable  controversy  about  persecution  for  religious  be- 
lief and  the  right  to  appropriate  the  lands  of  Indians, 
because  they  were  pagans,  by  Puritans,  because  they  were 
Christians. 

Balancing  testimony  of  friend  and  foe,  WilHams  must 
have  been  an  earnest  but  erratic  spirit,  somewhat  unstable 
and  flighty,  gracious  in  manner,  kindly  in  purpose,  sincere 
and  unshaken  in  his  latest  convictions  —  while  they  lasted. 
His  writings  are  the  outcome  of  this  composite  aggregate, 
in  which  the  positive  and  the  generous  elements  oftenest 
appear. 

The  "  Bloudy  Tenent  of  Persecution  for  Cause  of  Con- 
science "  in  the  form  of  a  Conference  between  Truth  and 
His "  Bloudy  ^^^^^  is  his  best  and  principal  literary  labor, 
Tenent."  setting  forth  the  nature  and  sphere  of  civil 
government,  and  protesting  against  the  "  sad  evil  of  civil 
magistrates  dealing  in  matters  of  conscience  and  religion, 
as  also  of  persecuting  and  hunting  any  for  any  matter 
merely  spiritual  and  religious."  Opposing  this  fashion  of 
his  day,  he  was  banished  to  England,  but  escaped  to  Provi- 
dence. The  manner  of  his  opposition  is  a  striking  contrast 
to  the  tone  of  his  adversaries.  Truth  exclaims:  —  "In 
what  dark  corner  of  the  world,  sweet  Peace,  are  we  two 
met  ?  How  hath  this  present  evil  world  banished  me  from 
all  the  coasts  and  quarters  of  it?  And  how  hath  the 
righteous  God  in  judgment  taken  thee  from  the  earth  ? " 
Then  Peace  answers :  —  "It  is  lamentably  true  that  the 
foundations  of  the  world  have  long  been  out  of  course ;  the 
gates  of  earth  and  hell  have  conspired  together  to  intercept 
our  joyful  meeting  and  our  holy  kisses.  With  what  a 
weary,  tired  wing  have  I  flown  over  nations,  kingdoms. 


Controversy  and  Verse  45 

cities,  towns  to  find  out  precious  Truth ! "  Then  follows 
the  long  arraignment  of  persecution  cloaking  itself  with 
pretence  of  zeal,  through  three  hundred  and  thirty  pages. 
As  literature  it  is  not  interesting,  although  the  forbearing 
temper  is  always  present,  the  biblical  English  is  always 
clear,  and  the  warmth  and  zest  of  the  style  a  pleasing 
relief  from  the  steely  severity  of  orthodox  foes. 

But  the  principles  which  Williams  propounds  and  advo- 
cates would  have  glorified  any  literary  form  in  which  they 
might  have  been  cast.  Their  light  and  charity  illumine 
and  sweeten  this  gloomy  and  bitter  controversy  over  half 
its  disc,  sometimes  compelling  a  faint  reflection  from  the 
other  half.  Their  best  result  was  to  be  seen  in  higher 
politics  and  religion  rather  than  in  letters,  and  in  Ehode 
Island  as  an  asylum  for  those  who  found  it  inconvenient 
to  answer  to  the  magistrate  and  the  minister  for  their 
views  of  truth. 

As  for  Eoger  himself,  his  ideal  was  always  before  him, 
leaving  the  Baptist  station  in  its  pursuit  as  he  had  left 
the  Church  of  England,  his  soul  still  marching  on,  known 
till  the  last  as  a  seeker  for  the  true. 

Of  John  Cotton,  his  opponent  in  this  memorable  con- 
troversy over  the  question  which  divides  mediaeval  eccle- 
siasticism  from  modern,  the  best  that  can  be  said  is,  that 
he  was  an  able  champion  of  an  ancient  and  established 
order  —  the  intolerance  which  Puritans  complained  of  in 
England  and  practised  here.  He  was  by  no  means  the 
narrowest  of  his  clan.  Ingenious  almost  to  sophistry, 
imaginative,  mystical,  and  as  joyous  in  temperament  as 
was  permissible  in  Boston  in  1633,  he  occupied  the  envi- 
able position  of  chief  pastor  and  religious  teacher  in  the 
future  metropolis.     He  wrote  with  assured  stroke,  having 


46  American  Literature 

great  repute  in  two  Bostons  and  two  Englands.  There- 
fore he  had  no  hesitation  in  taking  up  Wilhams's  treatise, 
as  he  had  already  picked  up  a  Newgate  prisoner's  advo- 
cacy of  the  same  soul  freedom.  With  easy  condescension 
he  entitles  his  reply,  —  "  The  Bloudy  Tenent  Washed  and 
Made  White  in  the  Bloud  of  the  Lambe,"  a  most  tortuous 
effort  to  wriggle  out  of  the  box  in  which  he  and  his  fellow 
saints  had  been  put  by  the  premature  and  ill-timed  com- 
mon sense  of  Eoger  Williams. 

Here  is  an  example  of  his  logic  and  his  charity :  —  *'  A 
civil  magistrate  ought  not  to  draw  out  his  civil  sword 
John  Cotton's  against  any  seducers  till  he  have  used  all 
Tenent  good  mcaus  for  their  conviction  and  thereby 

Washed,"  °  *^ 

etc.  clearly  manifested  the  bowels  of  tender  com- 

miseration and  compassion  toward  them.  But  if  after 
their  continuance  in  obstinate  rebellion  against  the  light, 
he  shall  still  walk  toward  them  in  soft  and  gentle  com- 
miseration, his  softness  and  gentleness  is  excessive  large 
to  foxes  and  wolves :  but  his  bowels  are  miserably  strait- 
ened and  hardened  against  the  poor  sheep  and  lambs  of 
Christ,  and  his  ministers  of  justice  should  assist  his  min- 
isters of  the  gospel  in  the  church  state." 

So  said  Torquemada,  inquisitor  general,  just  before 
Columbus  sailed  from  Palos,  and  recent  occurrences  seem 
to  indicate  that  this  spirit  has  never  been  wholly  washed 
out  of  the  land  he  discovered.  At  any  rate,  it  is  visible 
in  the  literature  of  this  notable  discussion  on  the  Bay 
side.  In  Cotton  and  Hooker  —  however  they  might 
quarrel  over  hair  lines  and  Anne  Hutchinson  —  in  Shep- 
herd and  Wheelwright,  in  Norton  and  Ward,  in  Wilson 
and  Welde,  and  in  all  the  four-and-twenty  elders  who  sat 
on  thrones  judging  the  new  Israel  in  New  England,  there 


Controversy  and  Verse  47 

was  a  singular  unanimity  on  the  limitations  of  liberty, 
their  writings  being  their  witnesses. 

Of  the  above,  Nathaniel  Ward,  alias  "  The  Simple  Cobler 
of  Agawam,"  is  the  most  pronounced  in  his  condemnation 
of  those  who  would  tolerate  more  than  one  Nathaniel 
form  of  religion.  The  maledictions  of  this  '^^'^'^• 
lawyer-parson  are  a  most  interesting  display  of  the  re- 
sources of  the  English  language,  especially  in  the  direc- 
tion of  foreign  derivatives;   for  example: 

**  My  heart  naturally  detested  foure  things :  The  standing 
of  the  Apocrypha  in  the  Bible ;  Forrainers  dwelling  in  my 
Countrey ;  Alchymized  coines  \  Tolerations  of  divers  Eeligions 
or  of  one  religion  in  segregant  shapes.  ...  He  that  willingly 
assents  to  the  last  is  either  an  Atheist,  or  an  Heretique,  or  an 
Hypocrite.  ...  I  lived  in  a  City  where  a  Papist  preached  in 
one  Church,  a  Lutheran  in  another,  a  Calvinist  in  a  third ;  the 
Religion  of  that  place  was  motly  and  meagre,  their  affections 
Leopard  like.  .  .  . 

"  Here  I  hold  myself  bound  to  set  up  a  Beacon,  to  give  warn- 
ing of  a  new-sprung  set  of  Phantasticks,  which  would  perswade 
themselves  and  others,  that  they  have  discovered  the  Nor-west 
passage  to  Heaven.  These  wits  of  the  game  cry  up  and  downe 
in  corners  of  such  bold  ignotions  of  a  new  Gospel,  new  Christ, 
new  Faith,  and  new  gay-nothings,  as  trouble  unsettled  heads, 
querulous  hearts,  and  not  a  little  grieve  the  Spirit  of  God.  I 
desire  all  good  men  may  be  saved  from  their  Lunatick  Creed 
by  Infidelity;  and  rather  beleeve  these  torrid  overtures  will 
prove  in  time  nothing  but  horrid  raptures  downe  to  the  lowest 
hell,  from  which  he  that  would  be  delivered,  let  him  avoid 
these  blasphemers,  a  late  fry  of  croaking  frogs,  not  to  be  indured 
in  a  Religious  State,  no,  if  it  were  possible  not  for  an  hour. 
.  .  .  Take  away  the  least  vericulum  out  of  the  world  and  it 
unworlds  it  all,  potentially,  and  may  unravell  the  whole  texture 
actually,  if  it  be  not  conserved  by  an  Arme  of  superordinary 
power.  .  .  ,  How    all    Religions    should    enjoy   their   liberty, 


4^  American  Literature 

Justice  its  due  regularity,  Civil  cohabitation  morall  honesty, 
in  one  and  the  same  Jurisdiction,  is  beyond  the  Artique  of 
my  comprehension.  If  the  whole  conclave  of  Hell  can  so 
compromise,  exadverse,  and  diametricall  contradictions,  as  to 
compolitize  such  a  multimonstrous  maufrey  of  heteroclytes 
and  quicquidlibets  quietly ;  I  trust  I  may  say  with  all  humble 
reverence,  they  can  doe  more  than  the  Senate  of  Heaven." 

Later  the  dress  of  the  women  is  as  a  red  rag  to  this  bull 
of  Bashan  and  he  remarks : 

"  I  shall  make  bold  for  this  once  to  borrow  a  little  of  their 
loose-tongued  Liberty,  and  mispend  a  word  or  two  upon  their^ 
long-wasted  but  short-skirted  patience.  When  I  heare  a  nu- 
giperous  Gentledame  inquire  what  Dresse  the  Queen  is  in  this 
week  :  what  the  nudiustertian  fashion  of  the  Court ;  I  meane 
the  very  newest :  with  egge  to  be  in  it  in  all  haste,  whatever  it 
be ;  I  look  at  her  as  the  very  gizzard  of  a  trifle,  the  product  of 
a  quarter  of  a  cypher,  the  epitome  of  nothing,  fitter  to  be  kickt, 
if  shee  were  of  a  kickable  substance,  than  either  honour'd  or 
humour'd.  ...  It  is  beyond  the  ken^  of  my  understanding  to 
conceive,  how  those  women  should  have  any  true  grace,  or  val- 
uable vertue,  that  have  so  little  wit,  as  to  disfigure  themselves 
with  such  exotic  garbes,  as  not  only  dismantles  their  native 
lovely  lustre,  but  transclouts  them  into  gant  bar-geese,  ill- 
shapen-shotten-shell-fish,  Egyptian  Hieroglyphs,  or  at  the  best 
French  flurts  of  the  pastery,  which  a  proper  English  woman 
should  scorn  with  her  heels.  I  can  make  myselfe  sicke  at  any 
time,  with  comparing  the  dazzling  splender  wherewith  our 
Gentlewomen  were  embellished  in  some  former  habits,  with  the 
gut-foundered  goosdom  wherewith  they  are  now  surcingled  and 
debauched.  We  have  about  five  or  six  of  them  in  our  Colony  : 
if  I  see  any  of  them  accidentally  I  cannot  cleanse  my  phansie 
of  them  for  a  moneth  after.  I  have  been  a  solitary  widdower 
almost  twelve  years,  purposed  lately  to  make  a  step  over  to 
my  Native  County  for  a  yoke-fellow :  but  when  I  consider 
how  women  have  tripe-wifed  themselves  with  their  cladments, 


Controversy  and  Verse  49 

* 

I  have  no  heart  to  the  voyage,  least  their  nauseous  shapes 
and  the  Sea  should  work  too  sorely  upon  my  stomach.  I 
speak  sadly." 

But  this  is  not  all  that  he  says,  as  may  be  seen  in  the 
"  Simple  Cobler  of  Agawam,"  whose  simplicity  is  not  in 
words,  albeit  some  of  them  are  plain  enough.  The  book 
was  written  in  1645,  and  within  a  year  the  author  re- 
turned to  England ;  possibly  at  the  suggestion  of  the  five 
or  six  women  above  mentioned,  if  they  heard  of  the 
manuscript.  Printed  in  London  in  1647,  it  passed  through 
several  editions  and  has  been  twice  reprinted  in  Boston. 

These  writings  may  not  be  literature  such  as  is  now 
read  or  written,  but  they  were  about  all  that  was  then 
written  or  read  in  America.  The  age  was  theologic 
and  controversial.  Leading  minds  in  the  prevalent  ruts 
of  thinking  were  in  the  pulpit  several  days  in  the  week. 
Sermons  and  lectures  were  in  the  place  of  books  and 
newspapers,  concerts  and  plays.  An  occasional  utterance 
was  wafted  on  the  breath  of  popular  applause  to  a 
London  printing  press  and  came  back  to  be  passed  from 
fireside  to  fireside.  Sometimes  a  series  of  discourses 
running  through  a  year  would  be  gathered  up  and  called 
a  book.  Eulogistic  sermons  on  ministers  and  magistrates 
departed  in  the  true  faith  of  the  standing  order  constitute 
the  main  deposit  of  literature  in  this  carboniferous  age. 

Early  and  late,  eighty-eight  Boston  preachers  have 
five  volumes  of  commemoration,  and  eighty- three  clerical 
wives  are  similarly  honored,  as  they  ought  to 
have  been  for  living  with  such  husbands,  them- 
selves tried  with  parochial  misfortunes  and  the  uprisings 
of  heresy.  Twenty-five  volumes  are  filled  with  the  praise 
of  six  hundred  and  forty-five  lesser  lights  of  New  Eng- 


so  American  Literature 

land,  classed  "miscellaneous,"  comprising  governors  and 
judges,  captains  and  ruling  elders,  Indian  fighters  and 
privateersmen.  To  find  this  body  of  scattered  writings 
is  an  undertaking  which  few  will  attempt.  Only  the 
curious  will  be  repaid  for  the  search,  but  every  librarian 
knows  the  dark  and  dusty  comer  where  a  bundle  of 
samples  may  be  found  or  where  a  bound  volume  reposes, 
dreaming  of  the  pomp  and  splendor  which  attended  an 
ordination  or  election  some  two  hundred  and  sixty  years 
ago.  The  glory  of  that  Israel  is  departed,  but  a  vision  of 
it  should  be  recalled  to  understand  the  literature  of  its 
day  and  generation. 

As  a  companion  piece  to  this  body  of  polemic  or  eulo- 
gistic prose  should  be  read  the  efforts  at  verse-making  by 
some  of  the  same  writers.     They  began  cau- 

Psalmody.  ...  .  t>      -,        t^     ^  -,        -  •, 

tiously  m  a  version  of  the  Psalms  and  with 
the  determination  to  be  faithful  to  the  original  Hebrew, 
if  not  to  poetic  graces.  Their  success  is  shown  by  the 
following  extracts  from  the  Bay  Psalm  Book,  the  first 
volume  of  any  consequence  printed  in  America,  Cam- 
bridge, 1640 : 

"  Remember,  Lord,  Edom's  sons*  words, 
Unto  the  ground  say  they : 
*  It  raze,  it  raze,'  when  it  was 
Jerusalem  her  day. 

"  Blessed  shall  he  be  that  payeth  thee, 
Daughter  of  Babylon, 
Which  must  be  waste,  that  which  thou  hast 
Rewarded  us  upon. 

"  How  good  and  sweet,  O  see. 
For  brethren  't  is  to  dwell 
As  one  in  unity  I 


Controversy  and  Verse  51 

It 's  like  choice  oyl  that  fell 

The  head  upon  ; 
That  down  the  beard  unto 

Beard  of  Aaron. 

"  My  soul  gave  me  a  sudden  twitch 
That  made  me  nimbly  slide, 
Like  unto  the  chariots  the  which 
Abinidab  did  ride." 

To  get  the  full  effect  of  these  harmonious  measures  the 
reader  should  imagine  them  "  deaconed  "  off  two  lines  at  a 
time  and  followed  by  the  command,  "  Sing,"  and  sung  with 
the  nasal  drone  which  Scott  has  caricatured  in  "  Peveril  of 
the  Peak."  Still,  without  this  accompaniment  the  standard 
of  poetic  art  in  1640  will  be  apparent.  It  is  surpassed 
only  by  the  frigid  or  vengeful  prose  of  the  time.  This  in 
turn  is  matched  by  the  threats  of  the  warrior  psalmist 
against  the  enemies  of  Israel,  made  more  dire  by  the 
frightful  translation  of  Eliot,  Welde,  and  Mather,  with  an 
eye  now  and  then  to  certain  disturbers  of  their  peace. 

A  woman,  Anne  Bradstreet,  was  the   j&rst  person  in  \ 
Massachusetts   to  make   poetry   a   business.      Men  had  V 
considered  it  a  sly  pastime  and  like  the  father  j^^^^^ 
of    this    poetess.    Governor    Dudley,    carried  ^'■^'^^^^^^*- 
rhymed  epitaphs  in  their  pockets  as  concealed  weapons. 
The  governor's  own  ran:  — 

"  My  shuttle  's  shot,  my  race  is  run, 
My  sun  is  set,  my  deed  is  done,"  etc. 

But   the   daughter  of   one   governor  and  the  wife   of 
another  did  not  need  to  hide  her  candle  after  pubhshing 
the  first  volume  of  American  poetry,  entitled  "  The  Tenth 
Muse,"  London,  1650.     Her  subjects  are  nature  and  man,  / 
the  seasons  and  temperaments,  the  flesh  and  the  spirit,  | 


52  American  Literature 

four  ancient  monarchies,   and   contemplations.     This  is 
from  "Winter" :  — 

**  December  is  my  first,  and  now  the  sun 
To  the  southward  tropick  swift  his  race  doth  run, 
This  month  he  's  housed  in  horned  Capricorn, 
From  thence  he  'gins  to  length  the  shortened  mom. 

"  Cold  frozen  January  next  comes  in, 
Chilling  the  blood  and  shrinking  up  the  skin ; 
The  day  much  longer  than  it  was  before, 
The  cold  not  lessened,  but  augmented  more." 

Her  "  L'Envoi "  is  better,  because  truer ;  — 

"  My  subject  *s  bare,  mj'-  brain  is  bad, 
Or  better  lines  you  would  have  had. 
The  first  fell  in  so  nat'rally, 
■  I  knew  not  how  to  pass  it  b}'. 
The  last,  though  bad,  I  could  not  mend, 
Accept  therefore  of  what  is  penned. 
And  all  the  faults  that  you  shall  spy 
Shall  at  your  feet  for  pardon  cry." 

Better  still  is  this  from  her  "  Contemplations  " :  — 

"  Man  's  at  the  best  a  creature  frail  and  vain, 

In  knowledge  ignorant,  in  strength  but  weak : 
Subject  to  sorrows,  losses,  sickness,  pain, 
Each  storm  his  state,  his  mind,  his  body  break 
From  some  of  these  he  never  finds  cessation, 
But  day  or  night,  within,  without,  vexation, 
Troubles  from  foes,  from  friends,  from  dearest,  near'st  relation. 

"  And  yet  this  sinful  creature,  frail  and  vain. 
This  lump  of  wretchedness,  of  sin  and  sorrow, 
This  weather-beaten  vessel  wrect  with  pain, 
Joyes  not  in  hope  of  an  eternel  morrow  : 
Nor  all  his  losses,  crosses  and  vexation, 
In  weight,  in  frequency  and  long  duration 
Can  make  him  groan  for  that  divine  Translation. 


Controversy  and  Verse  53 

"  0  Time  the  fatal  wrack  of  mortal  things, 
That  draws  oblivion's  curtain  over  kings, 
Their  sumptuous  monuments,  men  know  them  not, 
Their  names  without  a  Record,  are  forgot. 
Their  parts,  their  ports,  their  pomp  's  all  laid  in  th'  dust, 
Nor  wit,  nor  gold,  nor  buildings  'scape  time's  rust ; 
But  he  whose  name  is  graved  in  the  white  stone 
Shall  last  and  shine  when  all  of  these  are  gone." 

Michael  Wigglesworth  was  the  first  male  in  New  Eng- 
land to  be  responsible  for  prolonged  verse.     He  desired  to 
rescue  poetry  from  the  heathen  associations  of 
the  classical  school  with  Juno,  Mars,  Jove,  and  wiggies- 

worth. 

the  rest  of  Olympus.  Accordingly  he  com- 
posed a  poem  on  the  last  judgment,  under  the  title, 
"The  Day  of  Doom,"  suited  to  the  religious  temper  of 
his  generation.  It  was  a  great  success,  being  read  by 
more  people  in  proportion  to  the  inhabitants  than  any 
other  book  since  its  day.  But  what  could  be  the  literary 
taste  or  the  standard  of  belief  or  the  brightness  of  outlook 
in  a  community  that  read  and  reread  and  repeated  by 
rote  such  stanzas  as  these  ? 

STANZA  XXXVI. 

"  Fast  by  them  stand  at  Christ's  left  hand, 

the  Lion  fierce  and  fell, 
The  Dragon  bold,  that  Serpent  old, 

that  hurried  Souls  to  Hell. 
There  also  st^nd,  under  command,  g 

legions  of  Sprites  unclean, 
And  hellish  Fiends,  that  are  no  friends 

to  God,  nor  unto  Men." 

XXXVII. 

"  With  dismel  chains,  and  strongest  reins, 
like  prisoners  of  Hell, 
They  're  held  in  place  before  Christ's  face 
till  He  their  Doom  shall  tell. 


54  American  Literature 

These  void  of  tears,  but  filled  with  fears 
and  dreadful  expectation 

Of  endless  pains  and  scalding  flames, 
stand  waiting  for  Damnation." 


**  But  as  for  those  whom  I  have  chose 

Salvation's  heir  to  be, 
I  underwent  their  punishment, 

and  therefore  set  them  free. 
I  bore  their  grief,  and  their  relief 

by  suffering  procured. 
That  they  of  bliss  and  happiness 

might  firmly  be  assured." 

To  those  who  pleaded  honest  lives  it  is  answered  in 
stanza 

CIV. 

"  Again  you  thought  and  mainly  wrought 

a  name  with  men  t'  acquire  ; 
Pride  bare  the  Bell  that  made  you  swell 

and  your  own  selves  admire. 
Mean  fruit  it  is,  and  vile  I  wiss, 

that  springs  from  such  a  root ; 
Virtue  divine  and  genuine 

wonts  not  from  pride  to  shoot." 

And  to  youth  suggesting  the  shortness  of  their  lives  it 
is  replied  in  stanza 

CXI. 

"  Could  you  find  time  for  vain  pastime, 
»  for  loose  licentious  mirth  ? 

For  fruitless  toys  and  fading  joys, 

that  perish  in  the  birth  ? 
Had  you  good  leisure  for  carnal  Pleasure 

in  days  of  health  and  youth  ? 
And  yet  no  space  to  seek  God's  face, 
and  turn  to  him  in  truth  1  '* 

Then  follows  a  company  of  the  misled,  and  of  the  fearful 
of  persecution,  and  the  non-elect  —  a  ditficult  class  to  deal 


Controversy  and  Verse  55 

with  on  prevailing  theories,  but  the  answer  is  consistent 
with  the  current  creed  as  exploited  in  stanza 

CXLIX. 

"  Whom  God  will  save,  such  will  he  have 

the  means  of  life  to  use  ; 
Whom  he  '11  pass  by  shall  choose  to  die ; 

and  ways  of  life  refuse. 
He  that  fore-sees  and  fore-decrees, 

in  wisdom  ordered  has. 
That  man's  free-will,  electing  ill, 

shall  bring  his  Will  to  pass." 

The  climax  occurs  when  infants  complain  that  they 
should  be  condemned  for  Adam's  guilt. 

"  Whose  sinful  Fall  hath  split  us  all ;  '* 
and  they  ask  in  stanza 

CLXX. 

"  Canst  thou  deny  us  once  to  try, 
or  Grace  to  us  tender, 
When  he  finds  grace  before  thy  face 
who  was  the  chief  offender  1 " 

But  the  case  presents  no  difficulty  to  the  father  of  eight 
infants  by  three  wives,  and  he  sings  stanza 

CLXXI. 

"  What  you  call  old  Adam's  Fall, 
and  only  his  Trespass 
You  call  amiss  to  call  it  his, 
both  his  and  yours  it  was  "  — 

which  is  expounded  in  forty-eight  lines,  and  then  in  stanza 

CLXXX. 

**  You  sinners  are,  and  such  a  share  as  sinners  may  expect ; 
Such  you  shall  have,  for  I  do  save  none  but  mine  own  elect ; 
Yet  to  compare  your  sin  with  their  who  lived  a  longer  time, 
I  do  confess,  yours  is  much  less,  though  every  sin  's  a  crime. 
A  crime  it  is,  therefore,  in  bliss  you  may  not  hope  to  dwell, 
But  unto  you  I  shall  allow  the  easiest  room  in  hell." 


S6  American  Literature 

And  then,  to  satisfy  the  logical  and  theological  spirit  of 
his  age,  he  adds : 

*'  The  glorious  king  thus  answering,  they  cease,  and  plead  no  longer  ; 
Their  consciences  must  needs  confess,  his  reasons  are  the  stronger !  " 

Poor  children !  poorer  parents !  poorest  poet !  And 
worse  than  all,  the  age  that  made  possible  and  loved  this 
doggerel  of  doom. 

To  quote  the  words  of  Hawthorne  once  more :  — "  Let 
us  thank  God  for  having  given  us  such  ancestors,  and  let 
each  generation  thank  Him  not  less  earnestly  for  being 
one  step  further  from  them  in  the  march  of  ages." 


VI 

SEWALL'S  DIARY  AND  MATHER'S    MAGNALIA 

TowAED  the  close  of  the  first  half  of  the  colonial  era  the 
literary  atmosphere  grew  extremely  murky.  The  sulphu- 
rous smoke  of  Wigglesworth's  "Dies  Irae"  was  making 
the  days  yellow  and  the  nights  lurid;  nevertheless  the 
orthodox  snuffed  it  with  mitigated  and  sanctified  glee. 
Increase  Mather's  "  Further  Account  of  New  England 
Witches"  prolonged  the  grateful  shudder  which  had 
attended  their  presence  and  their  taking  off  in  former 
years.  Lest  there  should  be  too  much  diversion  in  frequent 
sermons  and  Thursday  lectures  —  the  only  public  entertain- 
ments of  the  period  —  Thomas  Shepherd  wrote  his  "  Wine 
for  Gospel  Wantons."  For  dissipation  of  another  kind  — 
now  getting  too  common  —  Increase  Mather  composed 
his  "  Woe  to  Drunkards."  Even  Eoger  Williams  had  to 
dig  George  Fox  out  of  his  burrows,  and  Cotton  Mather 
closed  the  century  with  his  "  Mournful  Decade,"  while  in 
unconscious  irony  Samuel  Sewall  portrayed  a  dreary  New 
England  under  the  figure  of  "The  New  Heaven  as  It 
Appears  to  Those  Who  Stand  Upon  the  New  Earth." 
Meantime  the  worthy  judge  was  writing  with  equal  un- 
consciousness the  one  valuable  end-of-the-century  book, 
his  diary. 

A  graduate  of  Harvard  and  tutor  at  twenty-one,  Sewall, 
a  young  Englishman,  twelve  years  in  Boston,  begins  his 
entries  on  Dec.  3, 1673 :  "  I  read  to  the  senior  sophisters 

57 


5  8  American  Literature 

the  fourteenth  chapter  of  Heerboord's  Physick,  etc."  He 
continues  his  noting  of  events  great  and  small  for  fifty-six 
sewau's  years  with  a  regularity  which  has  been  the 
^'^''^'  despair  of  subsequent  diarists.     For  example: 

March  23,  "I  had  my  hair  cut."  June  15,  "Thomas 
Sargeant  was  whipped  before  all  the  scholars  in  the  col- 
lege library.  Prayer  was  had  before  and  after  by  the 
president."  Nov.  11,  "  Morning  proper  fair,  the  weather 
exceedingly  benign,  but  (to  me)  metaphoric,  dark  and 
portentous,  some  prodigy  appearing  in  every  corner  of  the 
skies."  Dropping  dates,  abridging,  and  correcting  the 
spelling  :  —  "  Mr.  Willard  preaches  the  lecture.  Sixty 
persons  killed  at  Quinebeck  by  barbarous  Indians ;  John 
Holyday  stands  in  the  pillory  for  counterfeiting  a  lease ; 
brewed  my  wife's  groaning  beer  ;  quaker  marched  through 
the  town  crying  Eepent ;  artillery  election  day ;  Mr.  West 
comes  from  Carolina  for  cure  of  dry  gripes :  Mr.  Stoddard 
brings  particulars  of  execution  of  Duke  of  Monmouth; 
carts  come  to  town  Christmas  day  ;  some  observe  the  day, 
and  are  vexed  that  the  body  of  the  people  profane  it ; 
blessed  be  God  no  authority  yet  to  compel  them  to  keep 
it ;  dreamed  that  our  Lord  came  to  Boston  ;  admired  his 
goodness  and  wisdom  in  coming  here  and  spending  some 
part  of  his  short  life  here ;  I.  Mather's  *  Arrow  Against 
Dancing '  comes  out ;  Eliakim  falls  ill  of  the  measels ; 
funeral  of  Lady  Andros.  Text,  '  All  flesh  is  grass ; '  Mr. 
Cotton  Mather  visits  me;  ride  to  Cambridge  lecture; 
Captain  Frary  sees  a  soldier  in  the  common  with  an 
Indian  squaw;  at  the  funeral  of  her  husband.  Deacon 
Eliot,  I  led  the  young  widow  and  had  scarf  and  gloves ; 
bought  a  Greek  testament ;  Major  Brown  has  home  his 
bride ;  corrected  Sam  for  breach  of  the  ninth  command- 


SewalFs  Diary  and  Mather's  Magnalia       59 

ment,  saying  he  had  been  at  the  writing  school  when  he 
had  not." 

Sailing  for  England  in  November,  1698,  he  notes :  — 
"  My  Erasmus  was  quite  loosened  out  of  the  binding  by 
the  breaking  of  the  water  in  the  cabin.  I  put  on  a  clean 
shirt  this  morn.  Ate  Simon  Gates's  goose.  Dream 
much  of  my  wife.  Eead  the  eleventh  Hebrews  and  sang 
the  forty-sixth  Psalm."  Getting  ashore  he  visits  Canter- 
bury and  St.  Paul's  cathedrals,  Oxford  and  Cambridge, 
hears  sermons,  dines,  buys  commentaries,  sees  the  sights 
in  London,  makes  his  will,  and  sails  for  Boston,  where  his 
personal  history  is  continued  with  great  and  sometimes 
painful  particularity.  This  is  especially  the  case  when 
anything  is  physically  wrong  with  himself  or  his  neigh- 
bors. Montaigne  was  not  more  unreserved  in  describing 
personal  ailments.  To  bodily  fortunes  and  misfortunes 
Sewall  adds  the  elations  and  depressions  of  his  soul  and 
finally  his  heart :  for  as  he  gets  past  his  sixty-eighth  year, 
his  second  wife  being  three  months  dead,  he  makes  the 
following  entries :  "  Daughter  Sewall  acquaints  Mme. 
Winthrop  that  if  she  is  pleased  to  be  within  at  3  p.  m.  I 
would  wait  on  her.  She  answered  she  would  be  at  home. 
Had  a  pleasant  discourse  about  seven  single  persons  sitting 
in  the  fore  seat.  She  propounded  one  and  another  for 
me,  but  none  would  do."  The  reason  becomes  apparent 
in  a  detailed  narration  of  several  visits  to  Mme.  Winthrop 
herself,  interspersed  with  letters  and  presents  of  sermons, 
in  return  for  which  he  receives  "  a  great  deal  of  courtesy, 
wine,  and  marmalade."  But  one  day  "  Mme.  Winthrop's 
countenance  was  much  changed  and  looked  dark  and 
lowering.  I  prayed  there  might  be  no  more  thunder  and 
lightning.     I  should  not  sleep  all  night."     Later  :  "  I  go 


6o  American  Literature 

to  Mme.  Winthrop's  having  Dr.  Sibb's  *  Bowels'  with  me 
to  read.  She  came  in  after  a  good  while  "  and  dismissed 
him  coldly,  "  with  no  wine,  as  I  can  remember.  The 
Lord  will  provide."  He  does  provide.  Widow  Mary 
Gibbs  is  the  next  recipient  of  glazed  almonds,  cakes, 
paper,  ink,  wafers,  sermons  and  proposals  of  marriage, 
and  she  accepts. 

On  the  29th  of  March,  1722,  he  makes  this  entry : 

"  Samuel  Sewall  and  Mrs.  Mary  Gibbs  were  joined  together 
in  marriage  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  William  Cooper.  Mr.  Sewall 
prayed  once. 

Next  Lord's  day  "sat  with  my  wife  in  her  Pue,"  and  the  day 
after  brought  her  home  to  my  House,"  and  the  next  Sunday 
"  introduced  her  to  my  Pue,  and  sat  with  her  there/*  and  the 
following  Sabbath  "  Conducted  my  wife  to  the  Fore-Seat, 
having  been  invited  by  the  overseers." 

One  or  two  other  entries  show  the  way  the  judge  and 
the  world  went  on  in  the  years  from  1724. 

April  5th.  **  The  Ways  are  dry,  and  the  Weather  moderat,  so 
that  I  comfortably  goe  to  the  solemn  Assembly  Forenoon  and 
Afternoon  :  Hear  my  Son  preach  from  the  first  Commandment. 
My  Wife  wore  her  new  Gown  of  Sprig'd  Persian."  *'  May  1, 
After  Lecture  I  heard  the  good  News  of  Andrew  Harradine  and 
others  rising  up  and  subjugating  Phillips  the  Pirat.  ...  I  went 
to  the  funeral  of  Widow  Jane  Bowdry,  a  courteous,  well  spoken 
Woman,  and  good  Christian."  "  May  3.  Pirats  are  brought 
in  this  day  from  Cape  Anne."  "  Satterday,  Set  out  for  Ipswich 
in  Mr.  Hopkin's  Calash,  Madam  GilPs  White  Horse;  Got  to 
Salem  by  fair  Day-light." 

Tuesday  Aug.  11th,  "Mr.  Cooper  tells  me  that  the  Corpora- 
tion meet  this  day  at  Cambridge  to  chuse  a  President;  fears 
they  know  not  one  another's  minds.  Went  to  Tom  Cowell's 
Funeral."  22nd,  **  The  *  Sheerness  *  comes  up,  and  Capt. 
Harman  with  his  Neridgwack  Scalps  at  which  there  is  great 


Sewall's  Diary  and  Mather's  Magnalia      6i 

Shouting  and  Triumph.      The  Lord  help  us  to  rejoice  with 
Trembling.'' 

On  Aug.  2,  "  Madam  Winthrop  was  buried.  Will  be  much 
missed  :  After  the  Funeral  went  and  wished  Col.  Fitch  joy  of 
his  daughter's  marriage  with  Mr.  James  Allen.  Had  good 
Bride-Cake,  good  Wine,  Burgundy  and  Canary,  good  Beer, 
Oranges,  Pears." 

Thus  the  devout,  kindly,  hopeful,  exact  judge  wrote  in 
his  lengthening  diary  for  half  a  century,  mixing  his 
weddings  and  his  funerals,  his  court  sessions  and  Sunday 
sermons,  his  Indians  and  pirates,  amassing  material  to  fill 
three  goodly  volumes  —  the  fifth,  sixth  and  seventh  in  the 
Massachusetts  Historical  Society  Collection.  They  con- 
tain the  minute  history  of  Samuel  Sewall,  tutor,  librarian, 
preacher  of  one  sermon  two  and  a  half  hours  long,  member 
of  the  governor's  council  and  judge  of  the  colonial  court. 
Of  his  official  life  he  records  less  than  of  his  personal 
experiences  —  bodily,  social,  and  spiritual.  Even  about 
the  famous  witch  trials,  where  he  was  one  of  the  judges, 
he  wrote  but  little,  repenting  afterward  of  his  share  in 
the  widespread  delusion  of  the  age.  As  literature  these 
records  have  less  value  than  as  history,  but  for  interest  to 
Americans  they  must  always  surpass  the  famous  diaries 
of  his  English  contemporaries,  Evelyn  and  Pepys. 

The  name  of  Mather  was  a  mighty  one  at  the  close  of 
the  seventeenth  century.  It  began  to  ascend  the  religious 
and  literary  firmament  in  1640,  with  Richard,  and  passed 
through  the  constellations  of  Increase,  Cotton,  and  Samuel. 
In  Cotton  it  blazed  with  midday  splendor,  and  the  "  Mag- 
nalia Christi  Americana  "  has  not  yet  faded  from  sight, 
like  most  of  the  three  hundred  and  eighty  titles  attributed 
to  this  champion  bookmaker  of  a  prolific  tribe.     In  fact. 


62  American  Literature 

a  good-sized  family  library  was  manufactured  by  successive 
Mathers  in  four  generations. 

The  "  Magnalia  "  is  a  landmark  which  may  divide  the 
seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries,  reviewing  as  it  does 
Mather's  ^^^  England  history  from  its  beginnings  to 
"Magnalia."  -j^ggg^  ^^  -^^  ^.^^^  iudicatcs,  "mighty  ex- 
ploits "  may  be  looked  for  in  its  sixteen  hundred  and 
sixty  pages.  The  book  itself  was  a  heroic  performance 
for  a  young  man  of  thirty-four,  though  he  was  born  old. 
None  of  his  other  works  was  of  such  consequence  in  his 
own  esteem.  The  labor  of  two  years  was  closed  with  a 
day  of  thanksgiving  for  ability  to  finish  it :  its  passage  to 
England  was  followed  by  fastings  and  prayers.  There 
was  another  thanksgiving  when,  after  five  years,  the 
printed  folio  arrived.  The  introductory  laudations,  epi- 
grams, anagrams,  and  pindarics  by  its  admirers  show  that 
it  was  an  epoch-making  volume.  Its  contents  comprise 
the  discovery  of  America  and  the  settlement  of  New 
England ;  the  lives  of  chief  men  in  the  colony,  magistrates 
and  divines ;  the  history  of  Harvard  college ;  the  faith 
and  order  of  the  churches;  wonderful  providences  and 
the  wars  of  the  Lord  —  that  is,  afflictions  and  disturb- 
ances, mercies  and  deliverances  of  New  England.  Any 
chapter  reveals  the  characteristics  and  attainments  of  a 
man  who  was  born  in  a  library  and  fed  upon  books,  who 
read  Latin  and  Greek  authors  at  ten  and  devoured  big 
English  volumes  with  two  bites ;  whose  memory  was  a 
vast  cold  storage  for  useful  and  useless  knowledge,  which 
he  dispensed  with  lavish  prodigality  and  garnished  with 
the  spoils  of  ancient  classics.  Old  Burton  himself  is  not 
a  greater  spendthrift  of  quotations,  and  his  "  Anatomy  of 
Melancholy"  might  be  the  model  in  division  and  sub- 


Sewall's  Diary  and  Mather's  Magnalia      6;^ 

division  after  which  the  "Magnalia"  was  built.  Boston 
in  particular  inspires  his  pen.  In  his  "  Bostonian  Eben- 
ezer  "  he  says :  —  "  Our  town  is  now  threescore  and  eight 
years  old,  and  certainly  it  is  time  for  us  to  set  up  our 
Ebenezer.  .  .  Truly,  there  hath  not  one  year  passed  over 
this  town,  'Ab  Urbe  Condita,'  upon  the  story  whereof 
we  might  not  make  that  note,  our  '  Ebenezer.'  It  is  from 
thy  watchful  protection,  O  thou  Keeper  of  Boston,  who 
neither  slumbers  nor  sleeps.  .  .  .  Old  Boston,  by  name,  was 
but  St.  Botolph's  town.  Thou,  0  Boston,  shalt  have  but 
one  protector  in  heaven.  Eejoice  in  him  alone  and  say, 
*  The  Lord  is  my  fortress  and  deliverer.'  Old  pagan  towns 
were  sometimes  mighty  solicitous  to  conceal  the  name  of 
the  particular  God  that  they  counted  their  protector.  Ne 
ab  hostibus  Evocatus,  alio  commigraret.  But  I  shall  be 
far  from  doing  my  town  any  damage  by  publishing  the 
name  of  its  protector,  for  among  the  gods  there  is  none 
like  unto  thee,  0  Lord."  In  this  style  he  rolls  on,  his 
chariot  wheels  fluttering  with  scraps  from  Moses  and  the 
prophets,  from  the  classics  and  the  fathers,  in  Latin,  in 
Greek,  in  Hebrew ;  while,  towering  majestic  in  wig  and 
gown,  he  conducts  a  triumph  through  the  streets  of  his 
beloved  Boston  with  the  plunder  of  all  the  ages  and  dis- 
pensations lumbering  after  him.  No  wonder  that  Dan- 
forth  of  Dorchester  inscribed  in  this  book : 

"  Art  thou  heaven's  trumpet  1  sure  by  the  archangel  blown  ; 
Tombs  crack,  dead  start,  saints  rise,  all  seen  and  known, 

And  shine  in  constellation. 
From  ancient  flames  here  's  a  new  phoenix  flown, 
To  show  the  world  when  Christ  returns  he  '11  not  return  alone." 

Hero  worship  two  hundred  years  ago  ran  in  ecclesiasti- 
cal and  literary  channels,  and  the  height  of  its  adulation 


64  American  Literature 

has  not  been  since  transcended.  But  Mather  was  equally- 
generous  with  the  worthies  he  embalmed  in  his  sonorous 
prose — Thomas  Hooker  for  instance: — "When  Toxaris 
met  with  his  countryman  Anacharsis  in  Athens,  he  gave 
him  this  invitation,  "  Come  along  with  me  and  I  will  show 
thee  the  wonders  of  Greece,"  whereupon  he  showed  him 
Solon  as  the  person  in  whom  there  centred  all  the  glories 
of  that  city  or  country.  I  shall  now  invite  my  reader  to 
behold  at  once  the  wonders  of  New  England  and  it  is  in 
one  Thomas  Hooker  that  he  shall  behold  them,  our  celeb- 
rious  Hooker,  whom  I  may  call,  as  Theodoret  called 
Irenaeus,  the  light  of  the  western  churches." 

Mather  was  pedantic,  but  it  had  been  fashionable  since 
King  James'  reign  to  embellish  all  literary  fabrics  with 
old  jewels,  and  what  would  have  become  of  Cotton  Mather 
if  he  had  not  disgorged  some  of  the  treasures  he  was 
continually  swallowing  ?  In  this,  as  in  his  discoursings  on 
witchcraft,  some  allowance  should  be  made  for  the  age  in 
which  he  lived.  Its  tastes  and  standards  and  beliefs  were 
not  ours ;  but,  according  to  its  own.  Cotton  Mather  was 
one  of  the  "illustrious  providences,"  and  the  principal 
man  of  his  time,  the  perfected  fruit  of  Puritanism  —  godly, 
learned,  superstitious,  narrow,  fantastic.  No  other  single 
writer  has  furnished  so  complete  an  account  of  the  Puritan 
age,  and  the  student  of  its  history  will  find  his  interest 
divided  between  what  Mather  has  to  relate,  the  diversified 
manner  of  his  narrations,  and  the  variety  of  his  acquire- 
ments. Por  example,  he  published  two  hundred  years 
ago  "  La  Eeligion  Pura,"  an  essay  to  convey  religion  into 
the  Spanish  isles,  an  early  instance  and  prophecy  of 
American  expansiveness. 

Out  of  60  vast  a  repository  "£  the  *'Magnalia"  para- 


SewaU's  Diary  and  Mather's  Magnalia      65 

graphs  might  be  taken  at  random  to  illustrate  the  manner 
of  this  Behemoth  of  the  mid-colonial  era ;  but  perhaps 
nothing  outside  of  his  eulogies  of  contemporaries  is  more 
representative  of  the  man  and  his  style  than  his  pronun- 
ciamento  upon  the  qualities  of  an  historian  and  a  writer. 
It  certainly  indicates  the  standard  which  many  would 
have  been  proud  to  attain  in  his  day. 

"  Reader  !  I  have  done  the  part  of  an  impartial  historian, 
albeit  not  without  all  occasion  perhaps,  for  the  rule  which  a 
worthy  writer,  in  his  Historica^  gives  to  every  reader,  Historica 
legantur  cum  moderatione  et  venia,  etc.  Poly  bins  complains  of 
those  historians  who  always  made  the  Carthaginians  brave,  or 
the  Romans  base,  as  their  affection  for  their  own  party  led 
them.  I  have  endeavoured,  with  all  good  conscience  to  decline 
writing  for  a  party,  or  doing  like  the  dealer  in  History  whom 
Lucian  derides  for  always  calling  the  captain  of  his  own  party 
an  Achilles,  but  of  the  adverse  party  a  Thersites  :  nor  have  I 
added  unto  the  just  provocations  for  complaint  made  by  the 
Baron  Maurier,  that  the  greatest  part  of  Histories  are  but  so 
many  panegyricks  composed  by  interested  hands,  which  elevate 
iniquity  to  the  heavens,  like  Paterculus  and  Machiavel,  who 
propose  Tiberius  Caesar  and  Caesar  Borgia  as  examples  fit  for 
imitation,  whereas  true  History  would  have  exhibited  them  as 
horrid  monsters  —  as  very  devils.  'T  is  true  I  am  not  of  the 
opinion  that  one  cannot  merit  the  name  of  an  impartial  his- 
torian except  he  write  bare  matters  of  fact  without  all  reflection  ; 
for  I  can  tell  where  to  find  this  given  as  the  definition  of  His- 
tory, —  Historia  est  rerum  gestarum,  cum  laude  aut  vituperatione 
narratio  :  and  if  I  am  not  altogether  a  Tacitus,  when  vertues  or 
vices  occur  to  be  matters  of  reflection  as  well  as  relation,  I  will, 
for  my  vindication  appeal  to  Tacitus  himself,  whom  Lipsius 
calls  one  of  the  prudentest  (though  Tertullian  long  before, 
counts  him  one  of  the  lyingest)  of  them  who  have  enriched  the 
world  with  History.  .  .  .  But  how  can  the  lives  of  the  com- 
mendable be  written  without  commending  them ;  or,  is  that  law 

5 


66  American  Literature 

of  History,  given  in  one  of  the  eminentest  pieces  of  antiquity 
we  now  have  in  our  hands,  wholly  antiquated,  *  Maxime  pro- 
prium  est  Historice^  Laudem  rerum  egregie  gestarum  persequi  ? ' 
etc.  etc." 

And  of  style,  especially  of  quotation,  he  says : 

"  These  embellishments  (of  which  yet  I  only  —  Veniani  pro 
laude  peto)  are  not  the  puerile  spoils  of  Polyanthea's ;  but  I 
should  have  asserted  them  to  be  as  choice  flowers  as  most  that 
occur  in  ancient  or  modern  writings,  almost  unavoidably  putting 
themselves  into  the  author's  hand,  while  about  his  work,  if 
those  words  of  Ambrose  had  not  a  little  frighted  me,  as  well  as 
they  did  Baronius,  Unumquemque  Fallunt  sua  scripta." 

So  far,  —  and  it  might  be  added,  so  little,  of  the  pedantic 
scholar.  But  to  see  Cotton  Mather  in  all  his  glory  one 
should  read  his  eulogy  on  some  minister  or  magistrate 
of  New  England.  Here  is  a  brick  from  the  mausoleum 
which  he  raised  to  Sir  William  Phipps : 

"So  obscure  was  the  original  of  that  memorable  person, 
whose  actions  I  am  going  to  relate,  that  I  must,  in  a  way  of 
writing  like  Plutarch,  prepare  my  reader  for  the  intended  rela- 
tion by  first  searching  the  archives  of  antiquity  for  a  parallel. 
Now,  because  we  will  not  parallel  him  with  Eumenes,  who 
though  he  were  the  son  of  a  poor  carrier,  became  a  govemour 
of  mighty  provinces;  nor  with  Marius,  whose  mean  parentage 
did  not  hinder  his  becoming  a  glorious  defender  of  his  country, 
and  seven  times  the  chief  magistrate  of  the  chiefest  city  in  the 
universe;  nor  with  Iphicrates,  who  became  a  successful  and 
renowned  general  of  a  great  people,  though  his  father  were  a 
cobbler  ;  nor  with  Dioclesian,  the  son  of  a  poor  scrivener ;  nor 
with  Bonosus,  the  son  of  a  poor  schoolmaster,  who  yet  came  to 
sway  the  scepter  of  the  Roman  empire ;  nor,  lastly,  will  I  com- 
pare him  to  the  more  late  example  of  Mazarini,  who,  though  no 
gentleman  by  his  extraction,  and  one  so  sorrily  educated  that  he 
might  have  wrote  man  before  he  could  write  at  all ;  yet  ascended 


Sewall's  Diary  and  Mather's  Magnalia      67 

unto  that  grandeur,  in  the  memory  of  many  yet  living,  as  to 
umpire  the  most  important  afifairs  of  Christendom  :  we  will 
decline  looking  any  further  in  the  hemisphere  of  the  world,  and 
make  the  *  hue  and  cry '  throughout  the  regions  of  America,  the 
New  World,  which  he  that  is  becoming  the  subject  of  our 
history,  by  his  nativity,  belonged  unto.  .  .  .  My  reader  being 
now  satisfied  that  a  person's  being  obscure  in  his  original  is  not 
always  a  just  prejudice  to  an  expectation  of  considerable  matters 
from  him,  I  shall  now  inform  him  that  this  our  Phipps  was 
born  Feb.  2,  a.  d.  1650,  at  a  despicable  plantation  on  the  river 
of  Kennebeck,  and  almost  the  furthest  village  of  the  eastern 
settlement  of  New  England." 

After  such  an  array  of  the  obscure-great  to  stand 
around  the  cradle  of  the  infant  Phipps,  one  can  imagine 
to  what  heights  his  biographer  would  elevate  him  before 
and  when  he  attained  the  dignity  of  knighthood  for 
services  rendered  the  crown.  Accordingly  through  sixty- 
five  large  octavo  pages  he  sets  forth  the  exploits  and 
virtues  of  this  Massachusetts  knight  and  closes  with  this 
panegyrftj  strain: 

"As  the  Cyprians  buried  their  friends  in  honey,  to  whom 
they  gave  gall  when  they  were  born ;  thus  whatever  gall  might 
be  given  to  this  gentleman  while  he  lived,  I  hope  none  will  be 
so  base  as  to  put  anything  but  honey  into  their  language  of  him 
now  after  his  decease.  .  .  .  The  name  of  Sir  William  Phipps 
will  be  heard  honourably  mentioned  in  the  trumpets  of  immortal 
fame,  when  the  names  of  many  that  antipathied  him  will  either 
be  buried  in  eternal  oblivion,  without  any  sacer  vates  to  preserve 
them  or  be  remembered  like  that  of  Judas  in  the  gospel,  or 
Pilate  in  the  creed,  with  eternal  infamy." 

And  then  as  if  this  exalting  prose  were  not  enough  he 
adds: 

"But  Poetry  as  well  as  History  must  pay  its  dues  to  him. 
If  Cicero's  poem  intituled  *  Quadrigce*  wherein   he   did  with 


68  American  Literature 

poetical  chariot  extol  the  exploits  of  Caesar  in  Britain  to  the 
very  skies,  were  now  extant  in  the  world,  I  would  have  borrowed 
some  flights  of  that  at  least,  for  the  subject  now  to  be  adorned. 
Bat  instead  thereof,  let  the  reader  accept  the  following  Elegy  : 

"  Kejoice  Messieurs  ;  Netops  rejoice 
Ye,  Philistines,  none  will  rejoice  but  you  ; 
Our  almanacs  foretold  a  great  eclipse 
This  they  foresaw  not  of  our  greater  Phipps." 

And  thus  through  eighty  lines,  ending: 

"  Write  now  his  epitaph,  [New  England]  't  will  be  thine  own, 
Let  it  be  this,  a  '  Publick  Spirit's  Gone.* 
Or  name  but  Phipps  ;  more  needs  not  be  exprest ; 
Both  Englands,  and  next  ages  tell  the  rest." 

One  other  phase  of  this  remarkable  intellect  must  suffice 
for  those  who  cannot  turn  over  the  books  of  the  "  Mag- 
nalia  "  or  some  of  the  other  three  hundred  and  eighty-odd 
titles  under  which  he  wrote,  more  or  less.  When  he 
launches  into  "Preternatural  Occurrences"  and  the  "In- 
visible World  "  his  credulity  is  equalled  only  by  his  curious 
lore  ;  for  example :  — 

"In  the  year  1679  the  house  of  William  Morse,  at  Newbury, 
was  infested  with  demons  after  a  most  horrid  manner.  Bricks^ 
and  sticks  and  stones  were  often  by  some  invisible  hand  thrown 
at  the  house ;  a  cat  was  thrown  at  the  woman  of  the  house,  and 
a  long  staff  danced  up  and  down  in  the  chimney  and  when  two 
persons  laid  it  on  the  fire  to  burn  it,  it  was  as  much  as  they 
were  able  to  do  with  their  joint  strength  to  hold  it  there.  An 
iron  crook  was  violently  by  an  invisible  hand  hurl'd  about,  a 
chest  carry'd  from  one  place  to  another,  the  keys  of  the  family- 
taken,  ashes  thrown  into  their  suppers,  shoes  filled  with  ashes 
and  coals,  —  yea  while  the  man  was  at  prayer  with  his  house- 
hold a  besom  gave  him  a  blow  on  his  head  :  while  the  man  was 
writing  his  inkhorn  was  by  the  invisible  hand  snatched  from 
him.     He  had  his  cap  torn  oflf  his  head,  and  he  was  pulled  by 


Sewall's  Diary  and  Mather's  Magnalia      69 

the  hair,  and  pinched,  and  scratched  and  pricked  with  needles, 
etc.,  etc.,  [with  thirteen  other  examples  given  at  great  length 
ending  with  this  definition  cited  horn  Wierius  de  Proestigiis 
Dcemonum  :]  *  A  witch  is  a  person  that  having  the  free  use  of 
reason  doth  knowingly  and  willingly  seek  and  obtain  of  the 
devil,  or  any  other  god,  besides  the  true  God  Jehovah,  an 
ability  to  do  or  know  strange  things  which  he  cannot  by  his 
own  human  abilities  arrive  unto.'  " 

Many  such  were  said  to  be  found  in  New  England 
during  the  last  half  of  the  seventeenth  century,  as  else- 
where, and  nineteen  supposed  witches  were  executed, 
some  with  the  approval  of  Cotton  Mather. 

There  are  other  writings  of  this  closing  period  of  the 
century  which  are  in  the  same  vein  —  narrative,  contro- 
versial and  marvellous.  Some,  like  Peter  Folger,  tried  to 
revive  the  Pilgrim  spirit ;  others,  with  William  Hubbard 
and  Matthew  Mahew,  wrestled  with  the  still  unsettled 
Indian  problem,  as  Eliot  did  with  their  language  and 
morals,  translating  for  their  improvement  several  books, 
like  "Baxter's  Call  to  the  Unconverted,"  and  writing  a 
"  Logic  Primer  for  the  Use  of  Indians  "  !  Increase  Mather 
wrote  on  "  The  Unlawfulness  of  Common  Prayer  Worship  " 
and  the  "  Divine  Eight  of  Infant  Baptism."  George  Keith 
found  the  churches  of  New  England  to  be  no  true  church, 
and  James  Allen  defended  the  churches  against  the  cal- 
umnies of  George  Keith. 

Daniel  Leeds  wrote  "  News  of  a  Trumpet  Sounding  in 
the  Wilderness,"  and  Joshua  Scottow  "  Old  Men's  Tears 
for  Their  Own  Declensions,"  and  John  Mason  "  A  Brief 
History  of  the  Pequot  War."  Then  there  is  the  usual 
flood  of  eulogies  and  elegies  on  the  "  much-to-be-deplored 
death    of    that    never-to-be-forgotten    person,   Eev.   Mr. 


70  American  Literature 

Nathaniel  Collins,"  or  Thomas  Shepherd,  or  that  "  Pattern 
and  Patron  of  Virtue,  Anne  Bradstreet." 

The  eulogy  and  epitaph  of  the  century  itself  and  its 
literature  here  might  he  extracted  from  such  an  elegy 
as  B.  Thompson  wrote  upon  "  the  Very  Reverend  Samuel 
Whiting,  who  departed  in  the  eighty-third  year  of  his 
peregrination  " : 

"  Laetantius,  by  Cyrian,  Basil  too,  the  great ; 
Quaint  Jerom,  Austin  of  the  foremost  seat, 
With  Ambrose,  and  more  of  the  highest  class, 
In  Christ's  great  school,  with  honor  I  let  pass, 
And  humbly  pay  my  debt  to  Whiting's  ghost. 
Of  whom  both  Englands  may  with  reason  boast/' 

But  then,  the  clerical  factor  in  early  American  litera^ 
ture,  and  politics,  too,  had  no  reason  to  be  unconscious 
of  itself,  and  was  seldom  oppressed  with  diffidence. 


vn 

BOOKS  OF  TRAVEL 

The  colonial  era  is  conveniently  divided  into  two  periods 
by  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century.  There  is,  to 
be  sure,  no  immediate  change  in  literary  forms  crossing  the 
or  spirit,  but  this  is  true  of  most  transitions.  Century  Lme. 
On  one  side  of  the  intercentury  line  Samuel  Willard  dis- 
played "  The  Peril  of  the  Times  "  and  William  Southeby 
lifted  up  his  "  Testimony  Against  Prophaneness  in  Phila- 
delphia." On  the  other,  Cotton  Mather  drops  *'  American 
Tears  Upon  the  Kuins  of  the  Greek  Churches,"  and  In- 
crease, his  father,  deplores  that  "  The  Glory  of  the  Lord 
Is  Departing  From  New  England,"  while  John  Hale 
shows  "  How  Persons  Guilty  of  Witchcraft  May  be  Con- 
victed "  —  a  belated  attempt  to  prolong  an  old  agony,  and 
this,  too,  in  spite  of  Robert  Calef's  protest  against  the 
madness  of  the  age  in  his  "  More  Wonders  of  the  Invisible 
World."  In  this  he  showed  that  there  are  other  marvels 
that  might  be  dragged  into  the  service  of  fanaticism,  and 
that  those  which  had  kindled  the  popular  frenzy  are  as 
harmless  as  these.  It  was  the  outspoken,  common  sense 
rebuke  of  a  layman  and  business  man  to  the  speculations 
and  superstitions  of  ministers  and  magistrates,  calling 
a  halt  to  their  destructive  credulity.  It  threw  these 
worthies  into  a  fuming  rage,  in  which  they  poured  vials 
of  wrath  upon  the  author  and  burned  his  book  with  dire 

71 


72  American  Literature 

maledictions  in  the  yard  of  Harvard  College,  since  he  had 
reproved  President  Wadsworth,  and  Cotton  Mather,  and 
other  ministers  for  their  share  in  persecuting  witches,  so 
called. 

To  the  President  of  Harvard  College : 

Reverend  Sir  :  —  After  that  dreadful  and  severe  persecution 
of  such  a  multitude  of  people,  under  the  notion  of  witches, 
which,  in  the  day  thereof,  was  the  sorest  trial  and  affliction 
that  ever  befel  this  country ;  and  after  many  of  the  principal 
actors  had  declared  their  fears  and  jealousies,  that  they  had 
greatly  erred  in  those  prosecutions ;  and  after  a  solemn  day 
of  fasting  had  been  kept,  and  after  most  people  were  convinced 
of  the  evil  of  those  actions  ;  at  such  a  time  as  this  it  might  have 
been  expected  that  the  ministers  would  make  it  their  work 
to  explain  the  scriptures  to  their  people;  and  from  thence 
to  have  shown  them  the  evil  and  danger  of  those  false  notions 
which  in  a  blind  zeal  hurried  them  into  those  unwarrant- 
able practices,  and  so  to  prevent  a  falling  into  the  like  for 
the  future.  But  instead  of  this,  for  a  minister  of  the  gospel 
(pastor  of  the  old  meeting)  to  abet  such  notions,  and  to  stir 
up  the  magistrates  to  such  persecutions,  and  this  without  any 
cautions  given,  is  what  is  truly  amazing,  and  of  most  dangerous 
consequence.  .  .  .  And  if  blood  shall  be  required  of  that 
watchman  that  seeth  the  sword  coming,  and  gives  not  the  need- 
ful warning,  how  much  more  of  such  as  join  with  the  enemy, 
to  bring  in  the  sword  to  destroy  them  over  whom  he  was 
placed  a  watchman  !  " 

.  And  then  under  the  caption  "Matters  of  Fact"  he 
gives  such  an  account  in  a  diary  of  events  relating  to  the 
accusation  and  trial  and  execution  of  one  and  another 
victims  of  ministerial  and  magisterial  zeal  as  an  eye- 
witness might  give  who  was  not  carried  away  with  the 
general  delusion.  There  is  no  more  vivid  picture  of 
that  unhappy  time.     For  example: 


Books  of  Travel  73 

*^  March  21  [1691].  Good  wife  Cory  was  examined  before 
the  magistrates  of  Salem  at  the  meeting  house  in  the  village, 
a  throng  of  spectators  being  present  to  see  the  novelty. 
Mr.  Noyes,  one  of  the  ministers  of  Salem,  began  with  prayer. 
The  number  of  afflicted  were  at  that  time  about  ten.  These 
were  most  of  them  present  at  the  examination,  and  did  vehemently 
accuse  her  of  afflicting  them  by  biting,  pinching,  strangling,  etc., 
and  they  said  they  did  in  their  fits  see  her  likeness  coming  to 
them,  and  bringing  a  book  for  them  to  sign.  Mr.  Hathorne,  a 
magistrate  of  Salem  [whom  his  descendant  has  immortalized] 
asked  her  '  Why  she  afflicted  these  children  1 '  " 

and  then  follows  the  rest  of  the  examination,  ending  with 
remanding  to  prison  of  the  accused. 

Enough  has  been  cited  to  show  that  one  sensible  man 
was  not  affected  with  that  other  malady  of  the  time  — 
a  stilted  affectation  of  style  which,  like  the  witchcraft 
delusion,  was  epidemic. 

Notwithstanding  the  prevailing  sombreness  the  opening 
of  the  eighteenth  century  is  illuminated  by  a  bar  of  light 
shot  through  the   general  gloom.     Colonists 
began   to   get   beyond   the   confines   of    their  make 

^  to  J  Excursions. 

native  towns,  and  to  see  other  people  than 
their  next  neighbors.  Charles  Wolley  writes  "  A  Two 
Years'  Journal  in  New  York,"  and  Sarah  Kemble  Knight 
records  her  adventures  during  a  journey  on  horseback 
from  Boston  to  New  Haven,  New  York,  and  returning. 
George  Keith  writes  "A  Journal  of  Travels  in  North 
America,"  and  Rev.  John  Williams  an  account  of  his 
forced  march  to  Canada  with  Indian  captors  and  his 
subsequent  ransom  under  the  scriptural  title  of  "  The 
Eedeemed  Captive  Returning  to  Zion,"  that  is,  to  Deerfield, 
Massachusetts.  Thus  in  one  way  and  another  a  new 
feature  is  added  to  the  literature  that  had  been  growing 


74  American  Literature 

up  around  the  meeting-house  and  the  fireside,  the 
pillory  and  the  gallows.  This  last  book,  for  instance, 
full  of  suffering  on  a  bloodstained  trail  over  snow  and 
ice  to  Montreal  is,  nevertheless,  not  without  its  shrewd 
observation  of  things  and  men,  which  must  have  been  a 
revelation  to  those  who  had  not  been  personally  con- 
ducted by  savages  into  a  Koman  Catholic  country.  The 
heroism  with  which  the  unwilling  pilgrims  bore  the 
distress  of  the  journey  and  their  devout  trust  in  Provi- 
dence are  equalled  by  the  steadfastness  with  which  they 
resisted  all  efforts  to  make  them  attend  mass,  or  to 
sign  themselves  with  the  sign  of  the  cross.  It  was  an 
opportunity  to  show  what  Puritanism  could  do  and 
dare  under  fire,  as  it  had  already  shown  what  it  would 
do  on  the  throne.  But  incidentally  its  views  were  en- 
larged by  going  into  the  Frenchman's  country  and  dis- 
covering that  "  papistry "  could  at  least  be  polite  and 
kindhearted  upon  occasion. 

Mme.  Knight  in  her  excursion  along  shore  did  not 
always  find  the  same  qualities  among  her  countrymen. 
To  New  ^^^  itinerary  is  a  revelation  of  country  and 
^°^^'  town  life  in  four  colonies.     It  contains  graphic 

accounts  of  bumpkin  guides,  pork  and  cabbage  dinners,  a 
bed  next  the  bar-room,  river  fording,  country  stores  and 
their  customers,  rigid  laws  against  kissing  on  Simday,  hard 
fare  at  a  French  inn,  the  charms  of  a  New  York  vendue 
and  of  the  people  who  lived  in  tiled  houses,  hospitable  and 
sociable,  civil  and  courteous,  and  who  atoned  for  not  keep- 
ing the  sabbath  with  Boston"^trictness  by  exact  dealing  in 
business.  Doubtless  her  account  was  part  of  a  liberal 
education  to  the  Bostonese  "  who  came  flocking  in  to  hear 
the  story  of  my  transactions  and  travails,  I  having  this 


Books  of  Travel  75 

day  been  five  months  from  home."  It  may  now  be  read 
in  the  fair  copy  printed  in  Albany  in  1865. 

Charles  WoUey  was  another  for  whom  New  York  had 
numerous  attractions,  clergyman  of  the  English  church 
though  he  was,  and  finding  "ministers  scarce  and  relig- 
ions many."  While  he  observes  the  shy  and  uncharitable 
spirit  of  these  preachers,  "as  if  Luther  and  Calvin  had 
bequeathed  and  entailed  their  virulent  and  ifncharitable 
spirit  upon  them,  and  not  interchanging  visits  for  five 
years  together,"  still  he  must  acknowledge  their  great 
fluency  in  speaking  Latin  on  an  occasion  when  he  got 
them  together  and  forbade  the  use  of  any  other  tongue. 
Of  the  New  York  townspeople  he  remarks  that  their 
principal  diversion  is  "  aurigation  —  i.  e.,  riding  about  in 
wagons,  which  is  allowed  by  physicians  to  be  a  very 
healthful  exercise"  —  still  followed  by  their  descendants. 
Mentioning  other  pastimes,  he  concludes  that  "It's  a 
place  so  very  inviting  that  our  gentry,  merchants,  and 
clergy  (especially  such  as  have  the  natural  stamina  of  a 
consumptive  propagation  in  them  or  an  hypochondriacal 
consumption)  flock  there  for  self-preservation."  Such  a 
sanatorium  was  the  Dutch-English  metropolis  in  1701. 

George  Keith,  a  missionary  sent  out  by  the  English 
church,  was  about  as  much  of  an  American  as  John 
Smith,  staying  here  two  years,  travelling  from  New 
Hampshire  to  North  Carolina,  and  writing  an  account  of 
his  professional  tournaments  with  Quakers  and  others. 
At  the  end,  however,  he  adds :  "  In  all  places  where  we 
travelled  and  preached  we  found  the  people  generally  well 
affected  to  the  doctrine  we  preached  among  them,  and  they 
did  generally  join  with  us  in  the  liturgy  of  the  Church  as 
we  had  occasion  to  use  it." 


7^  American  Literature 

Three  days  before  the  incoming  of  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury John  Lawson,  gent,  and  surveyor  general  of  North 
Andinthe  Carolina,  started  on  a  thousand-mile  journey 
^°"*^'  among  Indian  tribes,  of  which  he  wrote  and 

published  a  sprightly  account.  In  it  he  attributes  the 
lack  of  good  reports  by  travellers  in  this  country  to 
the  fact  that  they  are  for  the  most  part  "persons  of  the 
meaner  sort  and  generally  of  a  very  slender  education, 
uncapable  of  giving  any  reasonable  account  of  curiosities 
worthy  a  nice  observation."  With  such  tourists  from 
England  —  a  race  not  yet  extinct  —  he  contrasts  the 
learned  observers  sent  out  by  the  king  of  France  and 
their  journals  of  travel  from  Canada  to  the  Mississippi. 
Then,  dedicating  his  work  to  three  noblemen  and  the  rest 
of  the  lords  proprietors,  he  begins  his  story  at  Charleston, 
whence  he  voyages  with  nine  companions  by  sea  and 
river,  encountering  game  and  mosquitoes,  savages  with 
rum  and  without  it,  wild  cattle  and  hogs  very  lean,  con- 
trary currents  and  cold  weather,  plenty  of  furs  and  good 
bargains.  The  aboriginal  customs  particularly  interest 
him,  especially  the  silence  of  the  women,  upon  which  he 
remarks:  "Would  some  of  our  European  daughters  of 
thunder  set  these  Indians  for  a  pattern."  Upon  the 
subject  of  their  cookery  he  does  not  wax  so  eloquent. 
Among  the  "insects"  of  North  Carolina  he  mentions 
alligators,  rattlesnakes,  tortoise,  and  terrapin,  giving  a 
vivid  description  of  these  and  twenty  other  "insects,"  in- 
cluding vipers,  scorpions,  and  frogs.  His  lists  of  fish  and 
fowl  are  more  appetizing.  Altogether  his  view  of  the 
country  and  its  inhabitants  is  remarkably  cheerful  and 
his  portrayals  unreserved,  conveying  the  impression  that 
the  Carolina  savages  were  pleasanter  fellows  to  meet  than 


Books  of  Travel  77 

their  Iroquois  cousins.  But  this  was  before  they  burnt 
him  at  the  stake  in  1712.  John  Lawson  certainly  jus- 
tified his  claim  to  a  place  beside  the  French  narrators 
and  to  the  title  of  gentleman. 

Another  "  gent.,"  Ebenezer  Cook  by  name,  in  1708  pub- 
lished "  The  Sot  Weed  Factor ;  or,  a  Voyage  to  Maryland, 
a  Satyr,"  in  burlesque  verse.  It  is  another  impression 
which  colonial  life  made  upon  Englishmen,  this  time  upon 
one  who  was  outwitted  in  a  tobacco  bargain.  Still,  these 
Hudibrastic  lines  must  have  been  inspired  by  something 
more  than  the  fancy  of  a  man  who  could  write  such  stuff. 
As  in  Connecticut,  so  in  Maryland,  colonial  modes  of 
living  must  have  been  crude  amidst  great  abundance,  and 
in  the  latter  province  amidst  a  flood  of  strong  waters. 
Justice,  too,  was  on  the  side  of  the  home-born..  Therefore 
this  satire  was  on  the  side  of  the  swindled  stranger,  who 
flings  back  to  the  eastern  shore  the  following  adieu : 

'*  May  cannibals  transported  o'er  the  sea 
Prey  on  these  slaves,  as  they  have  done  on  me ; 
May  never  merchants'  trading  sail  explore 
This  cruel,  this  inhospitable  shore. 
But  left  abandon'd  by  the  world  to  starve, 
May  they  sustain  the'  fate  they  well  deserve  " 

and  other  calamities  fit  for  Americans  who  were  already 
developing  a  commercial  shrewdness  which  was  to  give  the 
British  trader  great  uneasiness  in  the  immediate  future. 
It  was  by  the  native  traveller  that  the  colonies  were 
coming  to  know  each  other  preparatory  to  federation  and 
ultimate  union.  And  the  foreign  traveller  by  his  "  impres- 
sions "  published  in  London  was  contributing  to  the  same 
result  in  another  way.  One  such  traveller  became  an 
indirect  contributor  to  our  literature. 


78  American  Literature 

John  Oldmixon,  historian  and  pamphleteer,  was  publish- 
ing his  "  British  Empire  in  America  "  when  Kobert  Beverly 
of  Virginia,  being  in  London  in  1703,  saw  advance  sheets 
containing  an  account  of  Virginia  and  Carolina.  Eeading 
these,  he  discovered  so  many  misstatements  that  he  under- 
took to  write  an  account  of  his  own  country,  "  because  it 
had  been  so  misrepresented  to  the  common  people  of 
England."  He  then  specifies  wherein  the  English  author 
had  blundered.  It  is  consoling  to  note  that  colonial  geog- 
raphy was  as  great  a  puzzle  to  the  native  Briton  as  that 
of  "  the  States  "  is  to-day ;  as  when  Oldmixon  remarks  that 
the  Indians  at  the  head  of  Chesapeake  Bay  pass  the  frontier 
of  Virginia  in  going  to  New  York,  and  that  the  James 
river  lies  southward  of  that  bay.  It  is  a  source  of  wonder 
to  the  Englishman  —  and  of  amusement  to  the  American 
—  "what  became  of  the  camels  brought  to  Virginia  by 
Guinea  ships,"  of  which  Beverly  had  never  heard.  These 
and  a  score  of  similar  errors  the  American  traveller  sums 
up  with  the  remark :  "  How  unfaithful  and  fruitless  must 
such  a  historian  be  who  can  upon  guesswork  introduce 
such  falsities  for  truth  and  bottom  them  upon  such  bold 
assertions  ! "  An  exclamation  which  to  this  day  occasion- 
ally goes  up  from  the  American  reader  of  English  notes 
of  travel  through  the  United  States  —  by  way  of  the 
Canadian  Pacific  railway.  However,  these  ancient  geo- 
graphical and  other  slips  may  be  pardoned  for  the  sake  of 
the  history  of  Virginia,  which  they  provoked  Beverly  to 
write. 

A  hundred  years  had  passed  since  John  Smith  sent  his 
Beveri  's  advertisement  of  the  country  and  its  resources 
History.  ^  ^-^^  Londou  compauy.  Beverly  undertook 
to  give  an  account  of  the  progress  the  colony  had  made 


Books  of  Travel  79 

in  the  century.  He  becomes  the  first  writer  of  its 
natural  and  political  history.  He  tells  again  the  story  of 
its  settlement,  recounts  the  coming  and  going  of  royal 
governors,  the  arrival  of  Lord  Baltimore  in  Maryland,  the 
Berkeley  and  Bacon  scrimmage,  the  spread  of  religious 
sectaries,  the  restraint  put  upon  commerce  and  tobacco- 
raising,  the  taxing  of  lawyers  and  schoolmasters,  wine  and 
liquors,  the  internal  disorders,  the  projecting  of  a  college 
to  teach  languages,  divinity,  and  natural  philosophy  —  all 
seasoned  with  spicy  details  of  the  prolific  fertility  of  the 
land,  of  cornering  pirates,  and  of  the  "natural  conven- 
iences of  Virginia  before  the  English  went  thither,"  its 
waters  and  soils  and  their  products,  animal,  mineral,  and 
vegetable,  fish,  fowl,  and  noble  game.  Finally,  in  the 
third  book,  he  discourses  upon  the  never-failing  topic  of 
the  English  colonist  —  the  Indians,  their  religion,  laws, 
and  customs,  in  war  and  in  peace,  illustrated  by  rude  cuts 
which  leave  nothing  for  the  imagination,  because  appended 
explanations  tell  what  each  figure  represents.  For  ex- 
ample, "  This  is  a  man  and  his  wife  at  dinner.  Figure  1 
is  a  pot  boiling  with  hominy  and  fish  ;  2  is  a  bowl  of  corn, 
which  they  gather  up  in  their  fingers  to  feed  themselves ; 
3  is  the  tomahawk,  which  he  lays  by  at  dinner."  But 
this  explicitness  is  of  a  piece  with  all  the  book  —  the 
honest  endeavor  of  a  Virginian  in  London  to  correct  mis- 
apprehensions about  his  native  country.  His  book  is  full 
of  the  subject,  like  himself.  He  knows  what  he  is  talking 
about ;  the  other  man  did  not.  Accordingly  he  will  set 
him  and  all  England  right  on  a  matter  where  there  was 
great  liability  to  be  wrong.  It  was  no  fault  of  his  if  they 
continued  to  blunder. 


vni 

ESSAYS,  NEWSPAPERS,  AND  ALMANACS 

In  the  first  quarter  of  the  eighteenth  century  old  literary 
patterns  were  melting  to  be  cast  into  new  moulds.  Some 
of  them  were  slow  to  sink  and  stubbornly  kept  their 
antique  shape  amidst  the  general  fusion.  Others  floated 
in  sight  as  dross  and  slag  after  their  substance  was  gone. 

The  most  notable  example  of  persistent  survival  of  old- 
time  artificiality  was  the  ceaseless  production  of  the 
Mathers,  ending,  apparently,  only  with  their  lives.  In- 
crease Mather  had  just  turned  out  his  "  Elijah's  Mantle  " 
and  Cotton  his  "  Impressions  Produced  by  Earthquakes  " 
when  they  both  were  translated  to  another  world,  having 
discoursed  on  most  terrestrial  and  many  celestial  subjects 
here.  In  verse  Nicholas  Noyes  had  attained  the  heights 
of  the  fantastic  in  appropriate  elegies  on  contemporary 
worthies  like  John  Higginson,  who,  he  sang : 

"  For  rich  array  cared  not  a  fig. 
And  wore  Elisha's  periwig, 
Before  he  went  among  the  dead 
He  children's  children's  children  had." 

Or  like  Joseph  Green : 

"  In  Grod's  house  we  late  did  see 
A  Green  and  growing  olive  tree. 
His  Master's  work  he  did  so  ply, 
He  did  but  just  get  time  to  die." 

These  masters  of  quibbling  contortion  had  admirers 
and  imitators,  who  may  all  be  dismissed  with  other  antique 

80 


Essays,  Newspapers,  and  Almanacs       8i 

spinning  wheels   of  verse  and  prose  to  the  storeroom  of 
colonial  curiosities. 

A  new  style  came  in  with  Jeremiah  Dummer.  The 
elders  had  great  hopes  of  him  in  the  pulpit,  but  he  was 
too  fine-spun  to  follow  their  traditions.     The 

Dummer. 

ideals  of  the  seventeenth  century  were  gettmg 
stale  and  its  idols  shopworn.  The  spirit  of  a  new  era  was 
in  the  air  outside  the  unventilated  meeting-house,  and  the 
promising  graduate  of  Harvard  in  the  class  of  '99,  two 
centuries  ago,  got  a  sniff  of  it.  He  did  his  best  to  satisfy 
a  Boston  congregation,  but  an  essay  is  not  a  sermon.  Yet 
the  essay  had  arrived  and  was  henceforward  to  share 
attention  with  the  sermon.  The  first  number  of  the 
"Spectator"  was  about  to  be  printed,  and  the  youthful 
prodigy  who  had  disappointed  critical  listeners  found 
himself  in  London  in  time  to  read  Addison's  account  of 
his  own  life  in  the  issue  of  March  1,  1710.  Henceforth, 
as  agent  of  Massachusetts,  his  associations  were  with  its 
politics  rather  than  its  theology,  and  in  his  "  Letter  to  a 
Noble  Lord,"  concerning  the  late  expedition  to  Canada, 
he  makes  the  transition  from  divinity  to  a  statesmanship 
which  was  soon  to  become  conspicuous  in  America.  To 
this  he  afterward  contributed  his  "  Defense  of  New  Eng- 
land Charters,"  a  forerunner  of  the  state  papers  which 
preceded  the  Declaration  of  Independence.  It  was  re- 
printed thirty-eight  years  later  as  applicable  to  colonial 
issues  in  the  days  of  the  pre-revolution  controversy  with 
Great  Britain.  All  that  need  be  said  of  it  here  is  that  its 
style  shows  the  author's  acquaintance  with  contemporary 
writings  in  England,  and  that  he  was  willing  to  be  taught 
by  them.  His  predecessors  had  not  been.  In  separatist 
isolation  they  were  a  law  and  a  pattern  unto  themselves 


82  American  Literature 

and  each  other  through  all  the  preceding  century.  With 
one  or  two  exceptions  they  turned  their  backs  upon  polite 
literature  and  set  their  faces  as  a  flint  against  Tudor  and 
Stuart  belles-lettres.  Mosaic  in  their  law,  they  became 
Hebraic  in  their  literature.  When  they  laid  the  founda- 
tions of  empire  in  the  stern  righteousness  of  the  Penta- 
teuch they  did  well ;  but  to  build  a  literature  upon  the 
archaic  style  of  the  law  and  the  prophets  was  to  go  back 
twenty-five  centuries.  It  is  by  no  means  necessary  to 
confound  these  two  achievements  or  to  say  that  they  won 
equal  distinction  in  theocratic  politics  and  in  letters,  or 
that  their  books  will  live  except  as  curiosities,  and  as  they 
may  belong  to  the  building  of  a  nation.  No  doubt  this 
last  was  a  higher  occupation  than  creating  an  immortal 
literature,  but  the  one  process  is  not  the  other,  nor  often 
coincident  with  the  other.  Good  literature  may  follow 
good  government  afar.  It  began  to  appear  early  in  the 
eighteenth  century,  and  this  Jeremiah  Dummer  was  the 
prophet  of  its  coming,  if  not  its  pioneer.  His  associations 
in  London  may  not  have  been  fortunate,  but  he  must  have 
been  as  open  to  literary  influences  from  the  works  of 
Dryden  and  Swift,  Addison  and  Steele,  as  to  social  and 
political  sway  by  Lord  Bolingbroke  and  the  Tories. 

In  any  case  what  he  wrote  is  a  pleasant  contrast  to 
contemporary  writings  here,  of  which  Cotton  Mather's 
"  Essays  to  Do  Good "  is  likely  to  survive  the  longest, 
since  Benjamin  Franklin  acknowledged  his  indebtedness 
to  it.  So  Benjamin  Wadsworth's  "  Dissuasion  from  Tavern 
Hunting  and  Excessive  Drinking,"  written  for  the  benefit 
of  Harvard  students,  may  still  have  its  value  for  their 
successors  and  for  other  students  by  reason  of  its  precepts 
rather  than  for  its  literary  worth. 


Essays,  Newspapers,  and  Almanacs       83 

A  mighty  man  in  his  day  was  John  Wise,  the  Ipswich 
parson  who  scented  prelacy  in  the  slightest  suggestion 
of  Presbyterianism,  and  smashed  a  conspiracy  against 
church  independency  with  a  single  blow  of  his  Thor 
hammer  under  the  mild  title  of  "  The  Churches'  Quarrel 
Exposed."  It  is  a  fine  example  of  surviving  Puritan 
polemics,  containing  strong  arguments  enforced  by  strong 
words. 

Cotton  Mather  and  others  had  made  a  series  of  "  pro- 
posals" which  squinted  away  from  the  independency  of 
each  congregation  in  ordering  its  own  affairs  and  pronounc- 
ing upon  its  own  minister,  who  in  theory  at  least  was  to 
be  chosen  from  its  own  ranks.  To  one  of  these  proposals, 
that  an  association  of  ministers  should  be  the  judge  of  a 
candidate's  fitness,  after  hearing  him  preach,  this  defender 
of  the  primitive  faith  replies  as  follows,  after  a  preliminary 
compliment  to  academical  learning : 

"  What  can  a  sermon  do  at  deciding  this  question  ?  for  that 
the  most  sensible  and  valuable,  who  are  usually  the  most  hum- 
ble and  tender  are  liable  by  this  stupendous  examination,  to  be 
baffled  by  their  own  temerity,  and  quite  dashed  out  of  coun- 
tenance by  their  own  fear.  Alas !  upon  their  first  entrance 
upon  the  stage,  to  appear  in  so  august  and  awful  a  presence, 
as  having  in  their  minds  the  resemblance  of  their  going  into  the 
Spanish  Inquisition,  rather  than  dwelling  amongst  the  softer 
measures  of  the  gospeh  Luther  himself  hardly  ever  got  over 
something  of  a  panic  fear  attending  him  through  the  course  of 
his  ministry ;  and,  indeed,  men  of  the  quickest  senses  are  most 
liable  to  these  paroxysms.  Then  surely  to  put  our  tyros  to  this 
test,  which  may  daunt  and  dispirit  the  greatest  hero,  is  noways 
proportionable.  .  .  .  Indeed  the  bold  and  brazen  man  who  can 
make  a  greater  figure  with  half  the  stock  by  many  shirking 
tricks  and  dissembling  artifices,  defended  and  supported  with 


84  American  Literature 

confidence  and  delivery,  may  obtain  the  euge  juvenis  tliat 
they  noways  deserve.  To  conclude,  as  the  proverb  is,  *  one 
swallow  makes  not  the  spring.'  So  in  this  trial,  one  good  or 
mean  sermon  cannot  determine  the  man,  or  umpire  his  case." 

Stronger  language  is  used  when  the  peril  to  the  ancient 
order  appears  imminent.  The  associations  of  the  clergy, 
he  says,  began  in  their  meeting  to  pray  for  deliverance 
from  Indian  depredations  and  other  afflictions,  but  these 
meetings  came  to  be  more  and  more  like  ecclesiastical 
conventions  with,  incidental  ambitions  for  office,  and  he 
breaks  out: 

"  Alas  !  Alas  !  empire  and  supreme  rule  is  a  glorious  thing ! 
Now  this  conceit  did  begin  pretty  much  to  predominate, 
especially  in  some  gentlemen  that  were  inclined  to  Presbyterian 
principles,  who  improving  their  advantages  of  sense  and  influence 
to  intrigue  others  of  a  lower  set  of  intellectuals,  brought  the 
business  so  near  to  a  conclusion  as  you  find  it  in  this  proposal. 
When  they  had  thus  far  advanced  and  ripened  their  design, 
out  comes  these  proposals,  like  Aaron's  golden  calf,  the  fifth 
day  of  November,  1705." 

He  remembers  that  this  is  the  anniversary  of  the  "  Gun- 
powder-treason day,"  and  exclaims,  "Why,  gentlemen! 
have  you  forgot  it  ?  —  a  fatal  day  to  traitors."  And  the 
golden  calf  reminds  him  of 

"  that  great  and  terrible  beast  with  seven  heads  and  ten  horns, 
which  was  nothing  else  a  few  ages  ago  but  just  such  another 
calf  as  this  is  .  .  .  now  grown  to  be  such  a  mad,  furious,  and 
wild  bull  that  there  is  scarce  a  potentate  in  the  world  that  dare 
take  this  beast  by  the  horns  when  he  begins  to  bounce  and 
bellow.  Therefore  to  conclude,  and  infer,  ohsta  principus  !  It 
is  wisdom  to  nip  such  growths  in  the  bud,  and  keep  down  by 
early  slaughter  such  a  breed  of  cattle." 


Essays,  Newspapers,  and  Almanacs        85 

It  is  said  that  this  "excoriating  satire  recalled  the 
churches  to  the  first  principles  of  Congregationalism,  and 
reseated  them  on  their  ancient  platform  more  firmly  than 
ever  for  the  next  sixty  years."  It  was  republished  by  the 
Congregational  Board  of  Publication,  Boston,  1860. 

It  is  a  comment  on  the  joyousness  of  our  ancestors' 
childhood  that  the  precocious  Hannah  Hill,  an  authoress 
at  the  age  of  eleven,  wrote  a  "  Legacy  for  Children :  Last 
Expressions  and  Dying  Words."  Fortunately  that  very 
year  "  The  Origin  of  the  Whalebone  Petticoat "  appeared, 
a  satire  by  a  writer  who  did  not  dare  to  affix  his  name  to 
such  a  piece  of  unseemly  mirth.  Moreover,  it  was  not 
only  a  grave  age,  but  a  warlike  one.  The  fruitful  Mather 
was  writing  his  second  "  Luctuosum,  or  Mournful  Dec- 
ade "  on  the  recent  Indian  wars,  while  Thomas  Church 
recorded  "Entertaining  Passages  Eelating  to  Philip's 
War,"  —  such  as  chopping  off  captives'  heads  and  bringing 
them  home.  Thus,  with  solemn  mirth  and  glad  grimness, 
that  generation  fought  and  wrote.  It  was  a  day  when 
Mather  knocked  the  rhymed  ends  off  the  Psalmody  and 
made  it  still  more  Hebraic  by  blank  verse.  He  held,  with 
some  later  critics,  that  rhyme  is  a  cheap  device,  not  essen- 
tial to  true  poetry,  a  conclusion  to  which  he  might  have 
been  driven  by  some  of  the  discordant  endings  in  the  Bay 
Psalm  Book.  Belief  from  its  droning  misery  came  to 
children  —  on  week  days  only  —  in  the  publication  of 
"Mother  Goose's  Melodies  "in  1719,  and  for  grown-ups 
once  a  week  in  the  "  Boston  Gazette "  after  Dec.  21  of 
that  year,  and  in  the  "  Weekly  Mercury  "  the  next  day  in 
Philadelphia. 

Of  these  papers  the  "Boston  News  Letter"  had  for 
fifteen  years  been  the  only  predecessor  in  the  country. 


86  American  Literature 

Starting  with  the  beginning  of  the  century,  it  had  marked 
the  entry  of  secularism  into  a  theological-literary  atmos- 
Eariy  phers.     Now,   after   fifteen   years,  there   were 

Newspapers,  ^-^^g  ^j  permanence  and  growth  for  printed 
journalism.  But  the  indications  of  its  future  attainment 
were  few  and  feeble  in  the  leaflets  which  contained  little 
news,  and  old  at  that.  Even  then  these  eight-by-twelve 
half  sheets  were  chimeras  dire  to  legislatures  and  magis- 
trates, as  containing  "  reflections  of  a  very  high  nature." 
Consequently,  after  the  first  number  of  "Public  Occur- 
rences" in  1690  no  other  paper  appeared  until  1704. 
Eighteen  years  after  this  James  Franklin's  "  Courant " 
was  put  under  the  censorship  of  the  provincial  secretary 
for  treating  with  contempt  religion  and  government. 
That  it  took  the  side  of  ignorant  prejudice  in  the  inocula- 
tion controversy  is  another  evidence  of  its  antagonism  to 
the  better  sentiment  of  the  age.  It  behaved  more  wisely 
imder  the  management  of  James'  younger  and  shrewder 
brother,  Benjamin,  who  became  the  forefather  of  American 
editors,  publishers,  and  printers.  In  his  own  day  he  saw 
thirty-seven  weekly  newspapers  established  before  the 
Eevolution.  These  increased  to  two  hundred  by  the  end 
of  the  century,  including  several  dailies. 

Next  to  the  newspaper  and  outnumbering  its  circula- 
tion was  the  almanac.  In  these  days  of  calendars  on 
The  every  wall  it  is  not  easy  to  understand  the 

Almanac.  importance  of  the  almanac  in  colonial  house- 
holds. With  the  Bible  it  constituted  the  entire  library  of 
many  families.  Successive  numbers  hung  from  a  string 
by  the  chimney  or  ranked  by  years  and  generations  on 
cupboard  shelves.  If  much  perusal  is  the  test  of  litera- 
ture, no  ancient  or  modem  classic  could  compete  success- 


Essays,  Newspapers,  and  Almanacs        87 

fully  with  these  mixtures  of  dates  and  mystic  hieroglyphs, 
figures  and  facts,  wit  and  wisdom,  scraps  of  verse  and 
selected  prose.  Their  range  was  from  the  barnyard  to 
the  stars,  from  Eabelais  to  Solomon.  They  brought  to 
the  farmer  and  the  fisherman,  the  mason  and  the  car- 
penter, chips  from  a  world-wide  literature.  The  almanac 
was  their  cyclopedia,  gazetteer,  and  literary  storehouse. 
Little  fault  was  to  be  found  with  it  as  far  as  it  went. 
American  almanacs  were  purged  of  the  astrological  non- 
sense which  had  made  foreign  year-books  attractive  since 
Mohammed's  hegira.  Still  there  were  things  which  the 
colonist  would  not  undertake  in  the  wane  of  the  moon  or 
when  the  sign  was  below  the  heart.  But  he  would  read 
his  almanac  on  every  day  of  the  year  —  Sundays  excepted. 
In  this  he  had  the  example  of  kings,  queens,  and  cour- 
tiers, whose  daily  companion  was  the  expensive  calendar 
of  Purbeck  or  Eegiomontanus  as  far  back  as  Columbus' 
day,  when  better  reading  was  scarce  and  readers  few. 
This  was  somewhat  the  case  when  in  1725  Nathaniel 
Ames  published  his  astronomical  diary,  and  when  the 
FrankliQ  brothers  followed  him  with  the  Ehode  Island 
and  Philadelphia  imitations  a  little  later.  In  an  almanac 
compiled  by  "  Benjamin  West,  Philomath,  in  Providence 
1765,  printed  and  sold  by  William  Goddard,  at  the  Print- 
ing Office  near  the  Great  Bridge,"  there  is  the  following 
"  Advertisement "  looking  toward  the  economics  of  litera- 
ture and  home  production : 

"As  the  present  embarrassed  condition  of  the  Trade  of 
these  Northern  Colonies  renders  it  utterly  impossible  for  us  to 
pay  for  the  large  Quantities  of  Goods  that  are  annually  imported 
from  Great  Britain,  it  is  reasonable  to  suppose,  that  every 
Attempt  to  lessen  the  Demand  for  such  Goods,  by  estabUshing 


88  American  Literature 

Manufactories  amongst  ourselves,  for  the  making  of  those  Things 
which  are  really  beneficial,  must  meet  with  the  Approbation 
and  Encouragement  of  all  who  wish  well  to  this  country. 
Amongst  many  laudable  Endeavours  in  the  dififerent  Provinces, 
for  the  purpose  aforesaid,  a  spirited  Effort  is  now  actually 
making  in  the  Town  of  Providence,  for  carrying  on  a  Paper 
Manufactory,  a  spacious  Mill  being  already  built,  and  will  be 
speedily  set  to  work,  which,  if  it  can  obtain  a  proper  Supply  of 
Linen  Rags,  old  Sail  Cloth,  and  Junk,  those  being  the  principal 
Articles  necessary  for  making  that  useful  Commodity,  it's  Utility 
to  this  Part  of  the  Country  will  be  soon  demonstrated  by  a 
Saving  of  some  Thousand  Dollars,  that  are  annually  sunk  to  us 
in  the  Pockets  of  the  European  Merchants.  Nothing  but  the 
Industry  and  Erugality  of  this  and  the  neighboring  Colonies,  in 
preserving  and  furnishing  the  Mill  with  the  above  Articles,  can 
ensure  its  Success,  and  as  it  is  a  Matter  worthy  of  Attention,  it 
is  hoped  that  every  Family  will  be  so  frugal  and  industrious  as  to 
promote  it  in  that  Manner  by  which  they  will  soon  experience  the 
Propriety  of  that  old  Proverb,  A  Penny  saved  is  a  Fenny  got." 

"  Poor  Richard "  deserves  great  praise  for  giving  colo- 
nists a  nibble  at  Swift,  Defoe,  Steele,  Bacon,  and  others 
whose  entire  works  would  have  met  the  fate  of  taxed  tea 
in  New  England  ports  of  entry.  Small  doses,  admin- 
istered with  proverbs  and  predictions,  accustomed  the 
provincial  taste  to  contemporary  classics  and  prepared 
the  way  for  a  broader  cultivation  and  more  catholic  liter- 
ary sympathies.  The  camel's  nose  was  getting  under  the 
tent  and  his  body  was  sure  to  follow,  but  with  camel 
slowness.  When  thousands  were  tasting  samples  of 
respectable  literature,  whose  total  sum  was  only  six 
weeks  away  by  trading  packet,  why  did  invoices  of  books 
run  in  titles  of  mediseval  sound  far  on  toward  the  nine- 
teenth century  ?  Silks  and  spices,  teas  and  wines  came 
here  in  abundance ;  but  literature  was  homespun  or  worse, 


Essays,  Newspapers,  and  Almanacs       89 

as  the  inventories  and  book  lists  of  the  first  half  of  the 
eighteenth  century  show. 

Accordingly  the  day  of  the  small  almanac  is  not  to  be 
despised.  It  was  not  much  in  itself,  but  it  baited  a 
starved  people  on  to  a  feast  which  they  had  Asauter- 
been  accustomed  to  regard  as  Belshazzar's  ban-  ^*"''^  Pnmer. 
quet,  if  perchance  they  had  heard  of  it  at  all.  With  the 
coming  of  the  almanac,  then,  the  hope  of  American  letters 
dawned,  for  the  author  would  write  as  he  read.  The  grist 
that  the  colonist  ground  was  according  to  the  grain  he  put 
into  the  hopper.  In  the  north  it  had  been  yellow  maize, 
and  white  in  the  south ;  coarse  meal  and  hominy  in  both, 
possibly  rye  and  Indian  at  best.  A  hundred  years  later 
he  will  buy  wheat,  raise  it  and  make  the  finest  flour.  His 
gritty  polemics  and  strong  controversy  and  crude  history 
will  be  among  the  curiosities  of  his  colonial  life  when  the 
American  of  the  next  century  reads  world-wide  literature 
and  sells  his  own  literary  products  in  the  markets  of  the 
world.  But  the  time  is  not  yet.  The  year  that  the  first 
almanac  comes  out  Josiah  Dwight  sends  forth  his  "  Essay 
to  Silence  the  Outcry  Against  Kegular  Singing"  and 
Samuel  Willard  his  "Two  Hundred  and  Fifty  Lectures 
on  the  Shorter  Catechism  "  and  an  anonymous  writer  his 
"  Hoop  Petticoats  Arraigned  and  Condemned  by  the  Light 
of  Nature  and  the  Law  of  God."  John  Barnard  will  try 
to  make  a  little  sunburst  with  his  "  Adventures  of  Philip 
Ashton  "  and  "  An  Account  of  Nicholas  Merrit's  Escape 
From  the  Pirates,"  and  Eoger  Wolcott  will  perpetrate  his 
"Poetical  Meditations  or  Improvement  of  Some  Vacant 
Hours."  Let  us  close  the  period  by  singing  with  the  poet 
one  of  his  stanzas  on  "A  Wounded  Spirit  Who  Can 
Bear"; 


90  American  Literature 

"  The  fire  within  my  conscience 
Is  growTi  so  fervent  and  intense 
I  cannot  long  its  force  endure, 
But  rathfir  shall  my  end  procure  : 
Grisly  death's  pale  image  lies 
On  my  ghastly,  piercing  eyes. 
My  hands,  made  for  my  life's  defence. 
Are  ready  to  do  violence 
Unto  my  life.    And  send  me  hence 
Unto  that  awful  residence. 
There  to  be  filled  with  that  despair 
Of  which  the  incipations  are 
A  wounded  spirit  none  can  bear." 

And  all  must  agree  with  this  great  governor  of  Connec- 
ticut in  the  middle  of  the  last  century  when  he  concludes 

that 

"  These  very  meditations  are 
Quite  unsupportable  to  bear." 


IX 

TRANSITION  — EDWARDS  AND  FRANKLIN 

Two  distinguished  Americans  were  contemporary  writers 
in  the  second  quarter  of  the  eighteenth  century,  one  of 
whom  represented  the  culmination  of  the  old  intellectual 
life  and  the  other  the  beginning  of  a  new  one. 

Jonathan  Edwards  was  the  result  of  four  generations  of 
philosophic  theology.  He  illustrated  what  it  could  pro- 
duce under  New  England  conditions.     It  had 


turned  out  the  "Simple  Cobler  of  Agawam 


i° 


onathan 
dwards. 


and  the  Mather  dynasty.  Then  it  seized  upon  a  modest, 
serene,  lovable  man  and  a  mighty  intellect.  In  the  tran- 
sition already  begun  he  who  might  have  helped  it  on 
was  anchored  back  to  the  predestinarianism  and  fatalism 
of  Calvin ;  he  prolonged  the  echo  of  its  thunders  for  years 
after  its  fluid  fires  had  ceased  to  rive  and  sear  the  souls  of 
men.  In  the  pulpit  he  would  hold  his  hearers  over  the 
burning  pit,  as  in  the  famous  Enfield  sermon,  by  a  spider's 
thread  until  their  groans  disturbed  his  discourse,  when  he 
would  request  them  to  keep  quiet  until  he  had  finished. 
To  call  him  an  eminent  vivisector  of  the  spiritual  body  is 
to  apply  an  opprobrious  epithet  which  this  humane  man 
does  not  deserve.  Yet  he  was  possessed  of  the  fallacy, 
old  as  Egypt,  that  one  creature  has  a  right  to  torture 
another  in  the  interest  of  religion  or  science. 

Edwards  was  more  admirable  in  the  field  of  speculative 

91 


92  American  Literature 

and  natural  philosophy,  where  he  attained  to  a  European 
reputation.  His  great  work  on  the  Freedom  of  the  Will, 
jjig  in  which  he  held  that  the  will  is  not  free,  is  his 

wntings.  memorial  forever.  As  literature,  there  is  seen 
in  it  both  the  cause  and  the  illustration  of  a  hard  and 
dismal  style.  To  explain  the  difference  between  "  doing 
what  we  will "  and  "  willing  what  we  will  to  do  "  is  not 
productive  of  much  beyond  the  intricacies,  refinements, 
and  convolutions  of  thought  with  corresponding  twist- 
ings,  turnings,  and  quibblings  of  expression.  Even  his 
sermons  approach  nearer  to  sterling  qualities  of  speech. 
They  are  very  direct  in  places.  "The  devil  is  waiting, 
the  fire  is  ready,  the  furnace  is  hot,  the  flames  do  rage 
and  glow.  When  God  lets  go  you  will  drop."  There  is 
no  vagueness  here.  He  was  also  free  from  the  ungainly 
affectations  and  cumbrous  pedantry  of  a  former  age  and 
its  conventional  artificiality.  If  he  had  followed  the  lib- 
eral lead  of  his  predecessors  in  the  Northampton  church, 
and  had  not  inquired  too  strictly  about  certain  books  of 
fiction  which  his  young  parishioners  were  reading,  he 
would  not  have  been  dismissed  to  the  Stockbridge  Indians 
and  eventually  advanced  to  the  presidency  of  Princeton 
college.  But  it  was  in  his  exile  that  he  wrote  the  mon- 
umental treatise  which  has  outlasted  the  labors  of  his 
parochial  years.  His  son  and  biographer  best  sums  up 
his  literary  attainments  when  he  says:  "As  to  elegance 
of  composition,  it  is  well  known  that  the  author  did  not 
make  that  his  chief  study.  However,  his  writings  have, 
it  seems,  that  solid  merit  which  has  produced  both  to 
themselves  and  him  a  considerable  reputation  in  the 
world,  and  with  many  an  high  esteem." 

A  paragraph  or  two  abridged  from  the  topic  "What 


Transition  —  Edwards  and  Franklin      93 

Determines   the  Will,"  may  illustrate   the   style  which 
persists  throughout  this  treatise :  — 

"  The  choice  of  the  mind  never  departs  from  that  which,  at 
that  time,  appears  most  agreeable  and  pleasing.  If  the  im- 
mediate objects  of  the  will  are  a  man's  own  actions,  then  those 
actions  which  appear  most  agreeable  to  him  he  wills.  If  it  be 
now  most  agreeable  to  him  to  walk,  all  things  considered,  then 
he  now  wills  to  walk.  There  is  scarcely  a  plainer  and  more  uni- 
versal dictate  of  the  sense  and  experience  of  mankind,  than  that, 
when  men  act  voluntarily,  and  do  what  they  please,  then  they 
do  what  suits  them  best,  or  what  is  most  agreeable  to  them. 

"  It  appears  from  these  things,  that  in  some  sense,  the  will 
always  follows  the  last  dictate  of  the  understanding,  including  the 
whole  faculty  of  perception  and  apprehension,  and  not  merely 
what  is  called  reason  or  judgment.  Such  a  dictate  of  reason 
is  quite  a  different  matter  from  things  now  appearing  most 
agreeable.  .  .  . 

"  These  things  which  I  have  said,  may,  I  hope,  serve,  in  some 
measure  to  confirm  the  position  I  laid  down  in  the  beginning 
of  this  section,  viz..  That  the  Will  is  always  determined  by  the 
strongest  motive,  etc.,  etc." 

He  is  generally  clear  in  this  once  famous  treatise,  whose 
subject  now  is  chiefly  interesting  to  metaphysicians,  but 
formerly  it  furnished  weapons  for  many  a  fireside  debate 
between  disputatious  neighbors. 

For  more  direct  speech  some  of  his  sermons  may  be 
referred  to.  Writers  on  literature  have  been  complained 
of  for  always  citing  the  Enfield  sermon ;  and  attention  is 
called  to  others  of  a  more  hopeful  and  cheerful  tone.  But 
it  is  to  be  feared  that  for  illustrations  of  crisp  and  pointed 
sentences,  as  distinguished  from  exact  amplifications  of 
complex  thought,  one  will  find  the  best  examples  in  the 
discourses  about  a  place  with  which  Edwards  had   no 


94  American  Literature 

sympathy;  as  in  the  sermon  on  "The  Torments  of  the 
Wicked  in  Hell,  no  Occasion  of  Grief  to  the  Saints  in 
Heaven."  But  he  preached  many  sermons  of  lighter 
complexion. 

To  be  fair,  let  this  sample  be  taken  from  a  theme  of 
neutral  tint,  —  "  The  Preciousness  of  Time."  He  pointedly 
and  pertinently  says :  — 

"Consider,  therefore,  what  you  have  done  with  your  past 
time.  You  are  not  now  beginning  your  time,  but  a  great  deal 
is  past  and  gone ;  and  all  the  wit,  and  power,  and  treasure  of  the 
universe  cannot  recover  it.  .  .  .  Your  sun  is  past  the  meridian, 
and  perhaps  just  a-setting,  or  going  into  an  everlasting  eclipse. 
Consider,  therefore,  what  account  you  can  give  of  your  improve- 
ment of  your  past  time.  How  have  you  let  the  precious  golden 
sands  of  your  glass  run  ?  Have  you  not  wasted  your  precious 
moments,  your  precious  days,  your  precious  years  1  ,  ,  .  What 
have  you  done  with  them  1  What  is  become  of  them  all  ?  And 
if  God,  that  hath  given  you  your  time,  should  now  call  you  to 
an  account,  what  account  could  you  give  to  him  1 " 

This  is  pointed  and  personal.  It  does  not  sound  like 
the  preaching  of  the  philosophic  theology  of  a  century  and 
a  half  ago, — nor  again  like  some  of  the  sociological  gener- 
alities to-day.  And  nothing  can  be  plainer  and  clearer  than 
its  diction.  It  is  certainly  a  long  remove  from  the  levia- 
than flounderings  and  blowings  of  fifty  years  before. 

B.  Franklin,  as  he  thriftily  subscribed  himself,  slipped 
his  cable  with  the  past  at  an  early  day.  The  freedom 
Ben-amin  ^^  ^^®  prcss  was  a  subjcct  for  posterity  to  talk 
Franklin.  about,  but  not  for  the  owners  of  the  one  licensed 
infernal  machine  of  Massachusetts  Bay,  which  gave  them 
such  trouble  after  the  day  that  Thomas  a  Kempis'  devout 
book,  "  Imitation  of  Christ,"  escaped  the  vigilance  of  the 


Transition  —  Edwards  and  Franklin     95 

censors  and  the  president  of  Harvard,  who  was  bondsman 
for  the  orthodoxy  of  all  its  publications.  It  was  1755 
before  the  leash  was  slipped  from  the  Boston  press,  and 
then  in  the  interest  of  a  controversy  no  longer  theological, 
but  political.  Before  this,  however,  other  presses  had  been 
busy.  Two  in  New  York,  two  in  Philadelphia,  and  the 
"  Virginia  Gazette  "  were  working  in  milder  climates  and 
with  less  stiffness  in  their  joints.  The  printer's  apprentice 
who  had  rebelled  against  Massachusetts  supervision  set  up 
a  particularly  versatile  hand-power  press  in  Philadelphia. 
Its  usefulness  and  adaptability  were  by  no  means  limited 
to  a  weekly  issue  of  the  "  Mercury."  Its  manager  had  a 
generous  inclination  to  benefit  his  fellow  men  in  the 
direction  of  a  wider  knowledge  and  a  better  literary  taste. 
He  also  had  an  unerring  perception  of  what  they  relished 
and  of  what  was  best  for  them,  as  well  as  of  the  profitable 
margin  between  what  was  wanted  by  the  populace  and 
what  they  needed.  He  was  a  born  editor  and  publisher, 
successful  in  his  aims  to  elevate  public  taste  and  also 
prosperous  in  this  undertaking.  His  equally  strenuous 
inculcation  of  economy  and  of  industry  and  of  diligence 
in  business  must  be  passed  over  here,  much  as  it  then 
contributed  to  the  common  welfare.  His  educational  and 
literary  efforts  are  all  that  can  now  be  noticed.  They 
began  with  himself.  Browsing  among  such  books  as  came 
in  his  way,  chiefly  theological  and  classical,  with  now  and 
then  a  story  of  Indian  captivity  and  war,  he  struck  the 
first  treasure  in  a  copy  of  "  Pilgrim's  Progress "  and  the 
second  in  an  odd  volume  of  the  "  Spectator,'*  which  must 
have  come  here  as  a  stowaway  and  was  very  likely  the 
solitary  representative  of  the  English  classics  in  Boston. 
However  this  may  be,  it  became  Franklin's  instructor  in 


96  American  Literature 

the  art  of  prose  writing.  In  the  arrangement  of  words 
and  the  order  of  thoughts  he  compared  his  own  meagre 
vocabulary  and  lack  of  sequence  with  the  verbal  wealth 
and  logical  succession  in  the  essays  of  Addison  and  Steele. 
He  rewrote  these  from  memory,  and  noted  how  much  they 
shrunk  in  his  hands.  His  shortage  became  his  gain  there- 
after. Soon  he  began  to  show  a  new  opulence  of  expression 
and  an  orderly  marshalling  of  his  ideas.  Hackneyed 
phrases  were  dismissed,  repetition  abandoned,  variety 
introduced.  The  'prentice  hand  had  been  to  Queen  Anne's 
school  and  had  caught  the  trick  of  composition  from  the 
wits  at  Button's  coffee-house. 

Henceforth  he  was  qualified  to  teach  his  countrymen. 
Anonymously  at  first  in  literary  trial  trips,  slipped  under 
the  "  Courant"  office  door,  criticism  upon  which 
Service  Yo^his  hc  got  by  cavcsdropping.  Outgrowing  his  pro- 
prietor-brother, he  was  driven  out  of  Boston, 
to  the  ultimate  advantage  of  a  larger  constituency  in 
Philadelphia,  and  finally  to  his  own  profit,  after  several 
experiences  as  rough  as  they  were  instructive.  But  the 
schoolmaster  always  came  down  on  his  feet  and  managed 
to  stumble  uphill.  Patient,  even  tempered,  and  shrewd, 
he  met  every  rivalry  with  one  better,  and  "  Silence  Do- 
good  "  of  Boston  blossomed  out  into  "  The  Busybody  "  of 
Philadelphia,  bent  on  reformation  of  morals  and  recon- 
struction of  literature. 

In  the  last  he  began  with  what  his  contemporaries  most 
needed  when  they  sat  down  to  write,  namely,  plain 
English.  The  language  had  been  sadly  corrupted  and 
distorted  by  preceding  generations.  By  all  accounts  his 
neighbors  used  very  plain  speech  in  their  conversation. 
He  showed  them  that  it  was  equally  valuable  in  compo- 


Transition  —  Edwards  and  Franklin       97 

Bition  - —  after  weeding.  He  knew  the  worth  of  a  common 
word  rightly  placed  and  of  idiomatic  vernacular.  His 
weapon  of  offence  and  defence  had  a  strong  back  of  com- 
mon sense  and  a  keen  edge  of  wit.  With  it  he  clove  his 
way  through  obstacles  as  King  Kichard  through  the  iron 
bar,  and  through  popular  follies  as  Saladin  through  the 
pillow.  Ignorance  laughed  on  at  its  own  neat  decapita- 
tion, not  knowing  that  its  head  was  off  until  it  tumbled. 
Such  a  performer  was  sure  to  be  popular,  since  every  one*s 
turn  to  laugh  would  come.  Some  of  the  humor  is  coarse 
and  some  would  be  called  flat  in  these  days  when  an 
American  will  wade  through  three  comic  papers  without 
a  smile.  But  people  of  that  time  had  not  been  polished 
into  propriety  by  urban  life  and  case-hardened  for  a 
century  and  a  half  by  a  steady  blast  of  humor.  It  was 
a  joke  both  practical  and  verbal  then  if  a  man  was 
besmeared  with  tar  and  called  a  Tartar.  And  there  was 
broader  wit  which  was  greeted  with  louder  laughter. 
The  "  Speech  of  Miss  Polly  Baker  "  and  "  The  Witch  Trial 
at  Mount  Holly  "  and  "  The  Meditations  on  a  Quart  Mug  " 
and  the  astrologer's  method  of  forecasting  the  weather  were 
not  too  amusing  nor  too  coarse  for  the  times.  Better 
than  these  was  the  famous  "  Speech  of  Father  Abraham 
at  the  Auction,"  printed  in  "  Poor  Eichard's  Almanac  "  in 
1758  and  reprinted  in  countless  forms  the  world  over  ever 
since.  It  introduced  American  literature,  such  as  it  was, 
to  all  Europe.  That  this  specimen  had  a  character  and 
value  of  its  own  was  proven  by  its  translation  into  a 
dozen  languages  and  its  sale  by  hundreds  of  thousands. 
This  lay  sermon  on  the  way  to  meet  hard  times  and  ad- 
versity by  thrift  and  economy,  diligence,  industry,  and 

personal  attention   to  business  instead  of   grumbling  at 

7 


gS  American  Literature 

taxes  was  the  kind  of  talk  that  appealed  to  men  of  sense 
and  to  everybody  else  by  the  cheerful  homeliness  of  its 
diction.  Stuffed  full  of  Poor  Eichard's  best  proverbs  and 
their  practical,  worldly  wisdom,  it  came  home  to  people's 
better  second  thoughts  with  convincing  power.  The  sharp 
hits  at  pride,  extravagance,  and  luxury  were  relished  by 
communities  not  yet  committed  to  them.  Democracy  in 
every  nation  welcomed  the  American's  sayings  as  its  hope 
in  the  future.  In  this  way  the  first  colonial  man  of  letters 
got  abroad  and  carried  everything  by  storm  at  home. 
No  man  was  so  accepted  and  quoted.  His  maxims  were 
household  words  and  even  crept  into  pulpits  on  Sundays. 
They  crossed  the  sea  and  made  hearts  warm  to  welcome 
their  author  in  after  years. 

As  literature  it  would  be  unfair  to  judge  of  Franklin's 
early  productions  by  present  standards,  or  again  entirely 
by  contemporary  works  in  England,  for  he  had  a  practical 
end  to  accomplish  with  a  constituency  whose  limitations 
he  knew  and  endeavored  to  meet.  No  foreign  writer 
then  and  no  modern  writer  to-day  could  do  what  he  did. 
And  at  that  period  of  his  life  his  greatest  ambition  was 
to  be  a  useful  rather  than  an  accomplished  writer.  His 
main  literary  effort  was  to  make  his  meaning  clear.  It 
was  a  good  beginning  for  a  national  literature.  He  was 
the  first  of  his  guild  who  was  always  understood.  It  is 
not  to  be  denied  that  he  sometimes  made  foolish  things 
plain  as  well  as  wise  ones.  But  who  has  not  done  the 
same  in  his  salad  days  if  not  later  ?  Let  the  man  who 
was  bent  on  abolishing  provincialism  be  gauged  by  his 
best  efforts. 

One  of  these  was  the  importation  of  forty-five  pounds' 
worth  of  books  purchased  by  subscription  in  1732.     It 


Transition  —  Edwards  and  Franklin       99 

would  be  gratifying  to  know  their  titles  and  how  far 
these  differed  from  all  previous  importations.  If  they 
were  a  part  of  the  contemporary  literature  of 
England,  published  since  the  beginning  of  the  Public 
century,  they  might  represent  such  writers  as 
Dryden,  Pope,  Addison,  Steele,  Defoe,  Farquhar,  Gibber, 
Clarendon,  Swift,  Locke,  Prior,  Shaftesbury,  Congreve, 
Berkeley,  Gay,  Eamsay,  Burnet,  Young,  Thomson,  Field- 
ing. That  these  would  be  a  revelation  to  colonists  is 
certain,  since  the  library  of  the  first  college  in  the  land 
contained  none  of  the  above  as  late  as  1723.  Great  praise, 
therefore,  is  due  to  the  man  who  ran  the  literary  blockade 
with  such  contraband  books  for  the  improvement  of  the 
popular  taste.  They  may  not  have  done  much  for  it 
immediately,  but  they  formed  the  nucleus  around  which 
gathered  the  first  public  library  in  the  country.  And  this 
is  but  one  of  several  great  agencies  for  benefiting  mankind 
of  which  Franklin  was  the  founder. 

Leaving  his  philosophical,  scientific,  and  political  at- 
tainments to  his  biographers,  and  keeping  strictly  to  his 
literary  performances,  it  may  be  said  that  his  His"Auto- 
" Autobiography"  is  the  best  of  these.  By  ^^^^''^P^y" 
this,  at  least,  he  will  always  be  best  known  as  a  writer. 
Into  it  went  the  story  of  his  other  doings  and  achieve- 
ments as  boy  and  man.  No  fictitious  character  was  ever 
treated  with  greater  frankness.  Unreserve  establishes  the 
truth  of  the  story.  The  author  writes  down  the  account 
of  his  life  as  if  it  were  not  worth  while  to  make  it  appear 
better  than  it  is.  He  mentions,  so  far  as  he  completed 
the  narrative,  his  successes  and  his  failures,  with  the 
exception  of  an  attempt  to  found  the  first  monthly  maga- 
zine, in   this  country.     But   no   publication  could  long 


loo  American  Literature 

survive  the  title  of  "The  General  Magazine  and  His- 
torical Chronicle  for  All  the  British  Plantations  in 
America."  It  was  to  Franklin's  credit  that  this  one 
carried  so  much  top  hamper  for  the  space  of  six  months 
before  foundering. 

The  "  Autobiography  "  is  so  weU  known  that  one  pas- 
sage will  serve  as  well  as  another  to  recall  the  lucidity  of 
its  style  and  the  practical  wisdom  of  its  author.  Even  in 
such  a  disputed  matter  as  paper  currency  it  is  easy  to  see 
the  persuasive  force  of  Franklin's  observations. 

"  About  this  time  there  was  a  cry  among  the  people  for  more 
paper  money,  only  fifteen  thousand  pounds  being  extant  in  the 
province,  and  that  soon  to  be  sunk.  The  wealthy  inhabitants 
oppos'd  any  addition,  being  against  all  paper  currency,  from  an 
apprehension  that  it  would  depreciate,  as  it  had  done  in  New 
England,  to  the  prejudice  of  all  creditors.  We  had  discussed 
the  point  in  the  Junto,  where  I  was  on  the  side  of  addition, 
being  persuaded  that  the  first  small  sum,  struck  in  1723,  had 
done  much  good  by  increasing  the  trade,  employment,  and 
number  of  inhabitants  in  the  province,  since  I  now  saw  all  the 
old  houses  inhabited,  and  many  new  ones  building :  whereas  I 
remembered  well,  that  when  I  first  walked  about  the  streets  of 
Philadelphia,  eating  my  roll,  I  saw  most  of  the  houses  in  Wal- 
nut street,  between  Second  and  Front  streets,  with  bills  on  their 
doors,  *'  To  be  let ; "  which  made  me  then  think  the  inhabitants 
of  the  city  were  deserting  it  one  after  another. 

"  Our  debates  possess'd  me  so  fully  of  the  subject,  that  I  wrote 
and  printed  an  anonymous  pamphlet  entitled  '  The  Nature  and 
Necessity  of  a  Paper  Currency.'  It  was  well  received  by  the 
common  people  in  general ;  but  the  rich  disliked  it,  for  it  in- 
creas'd  and  strengthened  the  clamor  for  more  money,  and  they 
happening  to  have  no  writers  among  them  that  were  able  to 
answer  it,  their  opposition  slacken'd  and  the  point  was  carried  by 
a  majority  in  the  House.  My  friends  there,  who  conceived  I  had 
been  of  some  service,  thought  fit  to  reward  me  by  employing  mo 


Transition  —  Edwards  and  Franklin      loi 

in  printing  the  money  ;  a  very  profitable  jobb  and  a  great  help 
to  me.  This  was  another  advantage  gain'd  by  being  able  to 
write." 

The  seeming  ease  with  which  he  wrote  is  equalled  by 
the  facility  with  which  his  principles  of  political  economy 
were  impressed  upon  voters,  and  by  the  readiness  with 
which  they  contributed  to  his  personal  profit.  It  is  amus- 
ing to  note  that  he  attributes  all  his  success  to  that  which 
he  chiefly  prized,  —  his  literary  ability. 

The  closing  page  of  the  first  part  of  this  record,  inter- 
rupted by  the  afifairs  of  the  Eevolution,  is  interesting  as 
an  account  of  the  first  attempt  at  a  public  library  in  the 
country  ;  the  clubbing  of  the  books  belonging  to  the  Junto 
proving  a  failure  after  a  year. 

"  And  now  I  set  on  foot  my  first  project  of  a  public  library. 
I,  drew  up  the  proposals  and,  by  the  help  of  my  friends  in  the 
Junto,  procured  fifty  subscribers  of  forty  shillings  each  to  begin 
with,  and  ten  shillings  for  fifty  years,  the  term  our  company 
was  to  continue.  We  afterwards  obtained  a  charter,  the  com- 
pany being  increased  to  one  hundred :  this  was  the  mother  of 
all  the  North  American  subscription  libraries  now  so  numerous." 

This  collection  of  books  grew  to  be  the  present  Phila- 
delphia Library.  When  he  resumed  the  story  of  his  life 
thirteen  years  later  he  took  up  the  subject  of  this  project, 
and  added  something  that  confirms  what  has  been  already 
asserted  of  provincial  reading  : 

"Those  who  loved  reading  were  obliged  to  send  for  their 
books  from  England.  ...  So  few  were  the  readers  in  Philadel- 
phia, and  the  majority  of  us  so  poor,  that  I  was  not  able,  with 
great  industry,  to  find  more  than  fifty  persons  willing  to  pay 
down  for  this  purpose  forty  shillings  each,  and  ten  shillings  per 
annum.     On  this  little  fund  we  began.     The  books  were  im- 


ro2  American  Literature 

ported ;  the  library  was  opened  one  day  in  a  week  for  lending 
to  subscribers.  .  .  .  reading  became  fashionable,  and  our  people, 
having  no  publick  amusements  to  divert  their  attention  from 
study,  became  better  acquainted  with  books,  and  in  a  few  years 
were  observed  by  strangers  to  be  better  instructed  and  more 
intelligent  than  people  of  the  same  rank  generally  are  in  other 
countries." 

For  those  who  wish  to  read  more  than  the  "  Autobiog- 
raphy" and  the  other  specimens  of  his  writing  already 
mentioned,  an  abundance  is  furnished  in  his  collected 
works,  fifty  editions  of  which  have  been  published.  This 
alone  indicates  that  he  occupies  a  place  in  literature  as 
well  as  in  the  hearts  of  Americans.  Next  to  Washington 
he  will  always  be  regarded  as  the  chief  builder  of  the 
nation.  He  did  much  of  this  foundation  work  by  other 
activities,  but  in  forming  those  habits  of  the  people  which 
have  made  them  prosperous  his  early  writings  were  most 
effectual.  His  maxims  became  their  common  law  of 
living. 

Opinions  will  differ  as  to  the  relative  place  he  occupies 
in  our  literature.  He  himself  would  have  asked  to  be 
regarded  only  as  a  useful  frontiersman  clearing  away 
first  growths  and  introducing  better.  As  such  he  is  the 
first  in  order  of  time  and  a  pioneer  in  the  work  that  was 
to  be  done  first.  He  was  also  our  first  humorist,  the 
predecessor  of  a  line  which  has  sometimes  amused  and 
sometimes  perplexed  foreign  readers  by  what  they  are 
pleased  to  designate  as  American  humor.  In  this,  as  in 
everything  else,  Franklin  made  himself  clear,  and  took 
no  risks  for  the  sake  of  delicacy,  as  his  audience  then 
would  not  have  had  him.  Since  his  day  the  crude  Penn- 
sylvania  product   has   been  refined  and  reproduced  in  a 


Transition  —  Edwards  and  Franklin      103 

hundred  forms  to  suit  the  demands  of  a  more  fastidious 
and  art-appreciating  age. 

His  principal  service  to  letters  was  in  broadening  and 
educating  American  taste  beyond  its  domestic  pattern  in 
writing  and  its  exclusive  habit  in  reading,  toward  the 
literature  of  the  modern  world  and  its  standards  and 
value.  There  was  something  to  be  done  for  a  country 
into  which  a  copy  of  Shakespeare  first  came  one  hundred 
years  behind  time,  and  waited  thirteen  years  for  a  com- 
panion copy  to  be  advertised  for  sale.  Franklin  did 
much  in  creating  a  demand  for  this  and  other  classics  by 
people  who  needed  to  read  them. 


X 

THREE  HISTORIANS  AND  A  POET 

The  struggle  between  the  old  style  and  the  new  in 
letters  was  continued  for  some  time  after  the  coming  of 
Liberal  ^^®    ncwspapcr,   the   almanac,   and    Benjamin 

Tendencies,  j^^anklin.  The  pulpit  as  yet  had  nothing  to 
fear  from  the  press.  In  Virginia,  where  in  1670  Gover- 
nor Berkeley  "thanked  God  that  there  were  no  free 
schools  nor  printing  and  hoped  there  would  not  be  for  a 
hundred  years,"  there  was  one  printing-house  after  sixty 
years,  but  for  thirty-five  years  more  it  was  kept  well  in 
hand  by  the  royal  governor.  The  conservative  magis- 
trate had  this  desire  of  his  heart  fulfilled  more  exactly 
than  in  others  mentioned  in  the  "Burwell  Papers,"  a 
piece  of  contemporary  history  well  worth  reading. 

A  more  modern  spirit  came  in  with  James  Blair, 
founder  and  president  of  the  College  of  William  and 
Mary,  who  "  could  not  rest  till  teachers  were  in  the  land," 
and  until  he  had  helped  to  advertise  the  colony  by  his 
share  in  a  book  entitled  "The  Present  State  of  Virginia 
and  the  College."  He  had  already  contributed  to  the 
current  theological  literature  of  the  country  one  hundred 
and  seventeen  discourses  on  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount. 
Another  Virginian,  the  genial  cosmopolite,  William  Byrd 
of  Westover,  turned  from  his  broad  lands  and  social 
delights  to  run  the  North  Carolina  line  through  the 
Dismal   Swamp   and   other  desolate    regions.     He   then 

104 


Three  Historians  and  a  Poet  105 

described  the  adventure,  to  the  cost  of  the  backwoods 
settlers,  in  a  vivacious  narrative  which  was  destined  to 
wait  one  hundred  and  twelve  years  for  a  publisher. 

Meantime  the  historical  spirit,  which  was  always 
chronic  in  New  England,  breaks  out  there  afresh.  The 
self-consciousness  of  a  people  who  were  taking  Thomas 
themselves  and  life  most  seriously  was  never  ^"°*^*- 
weary  of  recording  the  progress  they  were  making,  —  in 
annals  and  diaries  at  first,  with  occasional  memoranda  of 
Indian  warfare,  but  at  length  with  the  genuine  historical 
virtues  of  accuracy  and  impartiality.  Thomas  Prince,  a 
Boston  minister  for  forty  years,  is  a  great  improvement  on 
his  predecessors  in  charitable  fairness  when  he  observes : 
"  I  am  for  leaving  every  one  to  the  freedom  of  worshipping 
according  to  the  light  of  his  conscience." 

He  is  also  careful  to  examine  original  sources  of  infor- 
mation and  determines  to  take  nothing  upon  hearsay  or 
tradition.  But  he  deemed  the  story  of  the  century  of 
New  England  life  so  important  that  it  should  have  the 
background  of  all  time  in  which  to  set  it.  Accordingly 
he  began  with  the  creation  of  man  and  labored  on 
through  ages  and  dispensations.  When  he  reached  the 
Puritan  Commonwealth  he  was  out  of  breath  and  time. 
His  first  volume  was  an  introduction,  five  thousand  and 
six  hundred  years  in  length,  with  only  ten  years  of 
colonial  record.  Three  years  more  were  summed  up  in 
pamphlets,  and  his  work  was  done.  He  was  not  the  only 
one  who  wrote  ancient  history  when  intending  to  write 
modern.  The  time  had  not  yet  come  for  improved  his- 
torical methods.  The  colonist  could  not  get  out  of  the 
Anglo-Saxon  Chronicle  habit.  Still,  he  was  accumulating 
material  for  his  grandchildren's  perspective  treatment,  and 


io6  American  Literature 

for  a  generation  of  historians  in  the  next  century  who 
should  be  the  peers  of  all  their  race. 

In  this  mid-century  period  Virginia  had  a  historian 
who  fell  into  the  ambush  which  is  always  awaiting 
William  ^^°^^  w^^  attempt  to  write  up  recent  ajffairs. 
stith.  WilHam   Stith  discards  American   antiquities 

beyond  Columbus,  but  he  cannot  forbear  enumerating 
the  various  voyages  of  discovery  preceding  Ealeigh  and 
John  Smith,  with  an  allusion  to  the  pride  of  some  writ- 
ers in  mentioning  others  as  remote  as  the  Carthaginian 
Hanno  and  Plato's  fable  of  the  lost  Atlantis.  After  a 
while  he  gets  to  the  Virginia  colony,  but  it  is  the  recon- 
structed narrative  of  John  Smith,  in  whose  veracity  he 
has  a  provincial  and  patriotic  confidence.  Yet  his  in- 
tention is  good,  and  his  sense  of  what  a  historian  should 
be  is  keen.  "I  declare  myself  of  no  party,  but  have 
labored  solely  with  a  view  to  find  out  and  relate  the 
truth."  '  That  he  did  not  always  succeed  was  due  to  the 
dust  which  was  still  in  the  air  from  recent  commotions.) 
On  the  sunny  side  this  became  to  him  a  resplendent 
cloud,  on  the  other  an  earthy  mist.  And  yet  this  history 
must  have  been  interesting  reading  in  its  day,  as  it  still 
is  to  those  who  prefer  detailed  particulars  to  events  in 
their  proportion  and  relation.  The  exploits  of  Smith,  the 
increase  in  stock  and  produce,  the  abundance  of  game, 
the  variations  of  Indian  temper,  the  dispositions  of  gover- 
nors, are  examples  of  topics  which  busied  the  chronicler 
and  entertained  his  readers  with  pen  portrayal  until  a 
later  fashion  of  history  came  in  with  the  next  century. 

From  Stith's  "  History  of  Virginia  "  it  may  be  interesting 
to  take  a  section  which  he  wrote  for  the  year  that  the 
"  Mayflower  "  came  to  Plymouth  —  1620 : 


Three  Historians  and  a  Poet  107 

**In  May  this  year,  there  was  held  another  General  Assembly, 
which  has,  through  mistake  and  the  indolence  and  negligence 
of  our  historians  in  searching  such  ancient  records  as  are  still 
extant  in  the  country,  been  commonly  reputed  the  first  General 
Assembly  of  Virginia.  But  that  privilege  was  granted  sooner. 
.  .  .  And  we  are  likewise  told  by  Mr.  Beverly,  that  a  Dutch 
ship,  putting  in  this  year,  sold  twenty  negroes  to  the  Colony, 
which  were  the  first  of  that  generation  that  were  ever  brought 
to  Virginia." 

And  then  without  a  word  of  transition  this  follows : 

"Tobacco,  a  stinking,  nauseous,  and  unpalatable  weed,  is 
certainly  an  odd  commodity  to  make  the  staple  and  riches  of  a 
country.  It  is  neither  of  necessity  nor  ornament  to  human  life ; 
but  the  use  of  it  depends  upon  humour  and  custom,  and  may  be 
looked  upon  as  one  of  the  most  singular  and  extraordinary  pieces 
of  luxury  that  the  wantonness  of  man  hath  yet  invented  or 
given  into.  It  is  not  therefore  to  be  wondered  that  the  Colony's 
eagerness  and  application  almost  solely  to  tobacco  [raising]  was 
much  distasted  and  opposed  by  the  Company ;  especially  in 
those  early  times  before  it  had  obtained  such  a  general  reception 
and  dominion  in  the  world.  To  which  it  may  be  added  that 
the  King  himself  had  a  sort  of  natural  antipathy  to  it,  and  was 
perpetually  haranguing,  railing,  and  even  writing  against  it. 
For  that  Solomon  of  England  thought  it  not  below  his  royal 
wisdom  and  dignity  to  write  a  treatise,  entitled,  "  A  Counter- 
Blast  to  Tobacco." 

New  York  furnished  another  example  of  the  prevailing 
mode  in  the  account  which  William  Smith  gave  of  his 
native  province  from  its  first  discovery  to  the  year  1732. 
The  writer  labors  under  the  delusion  which  possessed  aU 
the  historical  writers  of  the  time  that  justice,  accuracy, 
and  impartiality  are  signally  exemplified  in  their  own 
work.  And  this  despite  emphatic  intimations  to  the 
contrary  by  contemporaries.     In  this  instance  local  poli- 


io8  American  Literature 

tics,  which  appears  always  to  have  been  in  Manhattan 
air,  got  into  sober  history,  not  always  in  the  interest  of 
truth,  if  of  righteousness.  This,  however,  does  not  de- 
stroy the  piquancy  of  certain  passages,  nor  the  unconscious 
humor  which  crops  out  in  other  veracious  ones.  The  race 
for  wealth  divides  attention  with  the  citizen's  ardor  to 
serve  the  public  in  official  station,  while  the  pursuit  of 
knowledge  and  the  cultivation  of  letters  are  not  uniformly 
an  easy  third  in  the  competition.  Later  there  was  a 
change  in  this  respect. 

In  Massachusetts  the  historian  of  the  period  who  is  to 
be  rated  with  the  two  just  mentioned,  though  ranking 
Thomas  thcm  both,  was  Thomas  Hutchinson,  the  last 

Hutchinson,  p^oy^icial  govcmor  of  the  Bay.  A  wealth  of 
materials  had  accumulated  which  he  thought  should  be 
set  in  order  before  further  destruction  of  ancient  records 
took  place.  With  becoming  modesty  he  wishes  that  some 
one  else  had  undertaken  the  task.  He  makes  the  rare 
admission  that  the  affairs  of  a  colony  cannot  afford  much 
matter  interesting  or  entertaining  to  the  world  in  general. 
UHis  chief  design  is  to  save  from  oblivion,  for  the  benefit 
of  his  countrymen,  facts  which  from  their  nature  afford 
but  a  dull  and  heavy  narration.  Uncommon  sense  is 
shown  by  this  view  of  his  subject  and  himself;  also  in 
the  quick  disposal  of  all  previous  history  and  voyages  to 
America.  In  three  pages  he  is  in  the  midst  of  affairs  on 
the  Massachusetts  coast,  and  in  a  few  more  is  busy  with 
the  Puritan  settlement  on  the  Bay.  Although  he  keeps 
the  date  conveniently  in  the  margin,  he  is  writing  some- 
thing more  than  a  chronicle.  There  is  enough  life  and 
warmth  in  it  to  give  spirit  and  movement  to  incidents 
which  pass  in  rapid  succession.     The  arrival  of  seventeen 


Three  Historians  and  a  Poet  109 

ships  with  fifteen  hundred  passengers  in  1630,  their  first 
and  second  impressions  of  the  country,  the  distresses  of 
the  first  winter,  the  streak  of  grim  humor  in  the  single 
inhabitant  of  Boston,  Blackstone,  who  told  intruders  that 
he  liked  the  lords  brethren  no  better  than  the  lords 
bishops,  and  that  his  squatter  sovereignty  extended  over 
all  city  lots  in  the  peninsula,  or  words  to  that  effect  — 
all  this  and  more  is  put  down  in  readable  sentences  of 
modern  cast.  In  the  midst  of  describing  a  famine  one 
cannot  tell  whether  the  historian  smiled  when  he  men- 
tioned the  man  who  after  a  dinner  of  clams  "returned 
thanks  to  God,  who  had  given  them  to  suck  of  the  abun- 
dance of  the  seas  and  of  treasure  hid  in  the  sands."  And 
this  was  not  in  Narragansett.  Side  lights  are  thrown 
upon  magisterial  envyings  and  rivalries;  the  man  with 
the  greatest  solemnity  in  walk  and  conversation  wearing 
the  palm.  To  his  native  majesty  of  bearing  such  a  one 
as  Yane  added  the  adornment  of  "  four  sergeants  walking 
before  him  with  halberds,  when  he  went  either  to  court 
or  to  church."  Kepublican  simplicity  did  not  begin  with 
the  Puritan  in  1636.  His  version  of  his  ancestress'  career, 
Mrs.  Anne  Hutchinson,  is  :  moderate  and  fair,  when  it  is 
remembered  what  monstrous  lies  the  elders  told  about 
her.  Now  and  then  small  matters  seem  to  get  more  than 
due  attention,  but  no  one  in  these  go-as-you-please  times 
can  imagine  how  the  sinfulness  of  wearing  long  hair  rent 
the  religious  society  of  New  England  in  the  seventeenth 
century. 

A  single  passage  may  illustrate^  the  judicial  spirit  of 
the  governor  in    small  things  which  were   then  largg; 

"  In  every  ago  indifferent  things  have  been  condemned   as 
sinful  and  placed  among  the  greatest  immoralities.     The  text 


no  American  Literature 

against  long  hair  in  Corinthians  as  contrary  to  the  custom  in 
the  apostle's  day,  induced  our  ancestors  to  think  it  criminal 
in  all  ages  and  all  nations  and  to  look  upon  it  as  one  of  the 
barbarities  of  the  Indians.  The  rule  in  New  England  was 
that  none  should  wear  their  hair  below  their  ears.  In  a  clergy- 
man it  was  said  to  be  the  greater  offence,  as  they  were  in  an 
especial  manner  required  to  go  with  their  ears  open.  A  few 
years  before  tobacco  was  prohibited  under  a  penalty,  and  the 
smoke  of  it  in  some  manuscripts  is  compared  to  the  smoke 
of  the  bottomless  pit.  Some  of  the  clergy  fell  into  the  practice 
of  smoking,  and  tobacco  by  an  act  of  government  was  set  at 
liberty.  In  England  periwigs  came  into  use  soon  after  the 
restoration.  In  New  England  they  were  an  eyesore  for  thirty 
years  after  and  did  not  generally  obtain  until  about  the  time 
of  the  revolution,  and  even  then  the  example  and  authority 
of  Dr.  Owen  and  other  nonconforming  ministers  who  wore  wigs 
were  necessary  to  remove  all  scruples  concerning  them." 

It  is  one  of  the  incidental  proofs  of  the  great  influence 
of  the  clergy  in  colonial  days  that  they  were  leaders  in 
fashion  as  well  as  in  theology,  literature,  and  legislation. 
When  Hutchinson  deals  with  matters  of  vital  impor- 
tance it  is  in  the  same  equable  tone  and  temper.  Efforts 
to  instruct  the  Indians,  persecution  of  so-called  witches, 
interposition  of  civil  authority  when  the  church  became 
high-handed,  relations  with  the  home  government,  and 
other  such  doings  are  all  set  down  with  greater  impar- 
tiality than  had  been  seen  in  any  previous  record  and 
with  little  personal  comment.  The  writer  succeeded  in 
blending  into  a  continuous  narrative  the  best  and  most 
trustworthy  of  the  materials  that  had  been  left  by  his 
predecessors.  Some  of  these  documents  must  have 
seemed  to  him  like  scraps  from  the  rag-bag,  but  after 
the   thrifty  custom  of  the  time  he  managed  to  weave 


Three  Historians  and  a  Poet  i  n 

particolored  strips  and  tangled  yarns  into  a  bright  and 
serviceable  fabric.  When  the  distractions  of  his  public 
station  are  considered,  and  toward  the  last  the  per- 
sonal disturbance  and  loss  of  manuscripts  attending 
the  change  in  political  conditions,  and  finally  his 
ill-treatment  at  the  court  of  the  royal  George,  this 
three-volume  history  of  Governor  Hutchinson's  becomes 
one  of  the  most  attractive  examples  of  our  early  litera- 
ture. Besides,  it  has  an  absorbing  interest  of  its  own, 
as  every  reader  of  it  will  ascertain.  It  is  the  review  of 
one  hundred  and  seventy  years  of  colonial  life,  by  a 
chief  magistrate  who,  as  the  last  of  his  line,  saw  it  pass 
into  the  life  of  a  new  nation.  As  a  royal  governor  and 
as  a  true  American  he  told  well,  for  his  time,  the  story 
of  what  was  then  British  America. 

As  a  good  loyalist  himself,  his  account  of  the  devotion 
of  Massachusetts  Bay  to  the  king  a  hundred  years  before 
the  Ke volution,  is  significant: 

"  On  the  one  hand,  I  think  it  appears  that  the  government 
had  not  sufficient  excuse  for  not  complying  more  fully  with 
what  the  King  required  of  them  by  his  letter  in  1662.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  commission  was  a  stretch  of  power,  superseding 
in  many  respects  the  authority  granted  by  the  charter,  and 
there  appears  upon  this  occasion  not  an  obstinate  perverse  spirit, 
but  a  modest,  steady  adherence  to  what  they  imagined  at  least 
to  be  their  just  rights  and  privileges.  At  the  same  time  they 
endeavoured,  not  only  by  repeated  humble  addresses  and  pro- 
fessions of  loyalty  to  appease  his  Majesty,  but  they  purchased 
a  ship-load  of  masts  (the  freight  whereof  cost  them  sixteen 
hundred  pounds  sterling)  and  presented  to  the  King,  which 
he  graciously  accepted.  Contributions  and  subscriptions  were 
also  made  for  the  fleet  and  for  the  relief  of  sufferers  by  the 
great  fire  in  London.'* 


112  American  Literature 

On  the  freedom  of  the  press,  he  writes : 

**  There  had  been  a  press  for  printing  at  Cambridge  for  near 
twenty  years.  The  court  appointed  two  persons  in  1662,  Ucen- 
cers  of  the  press,  and  prohibited  the  pubHshing  any  books 
or  newspapers  which  should  not  be  supervised  by  them,  and  in 
1668  the  supervisors  having  allowed  the  printing  of  'Thomas 
a  Kempis  de  Imitatione  Christi,'  the  court  interposed,  '  it 
being  wrote  by  a  popish  minister,  and  containing  some  things 
less  safe  to  be  issued  among  the  people,'  and  therefore  they 
commended  to  the  licencers  a  more  full  revisal,  and  ordered 
the  press  to  stop  in  the  meantime.  In  a  constitution  less 
popular  this  would  have  been  thought  too  great  an  abridg- 
ment of  the  subject's  liberty." 

And  on  the  "  Sabbath  " : 

"From  a  sacred  regard  to  the  religion  of  the  Christian 
Sabbath,  a  Scruple  arose  of  the  lawfulnass  of  calling  the  first 
day  of  the  week  Sunday,  as  they  always,  upon  any  occasion, 
whether  in  a  civil  or  religious  relation  to  it,  stiled  it  either  the 
Lord's  day  or  the  Sabbath.  As  the  exception  to  the  word 
Sunday  was  founded  upon  its  superstitious  idolatrous  origin, 
the  same  scruple  naturally  followed  with  respect  to  all  the  other 
days  of  the  week  and  of  most  of  the  months,  which  had  the 
same  origin." 

The  following  may  have  interest  this  year,  1902  : 
"The  small  pox,  this  year  [1721]  made  great  havoc  in 
Boston  and  some  adjacent  towns.  Having  been  prevented  from 
spreading  for  near  20  years,  all  born  within  that  time,  besides 
many  who  had  escaped  it  before,  were  liable  to  the  distemper. 
Of  5889  which  took  it  in  Boston  844  died.  Inoculation  was 
introduced  upon  this  occasion,  contrary  to  the  minds  of  the 
inhabitants  in  general,  and  not  without  hazard  to  the  lives 
of  those  who  promoted  it,  from  the  rage  of  the  people.  Dr. 
C.  Mather,  one  of  the  principal  ministers  of  Boston,  had 
observed  in  the  philosophical  transactions,  a  letter  of  Timonius 
from  Constantinople,  and  a  treatise  of  Pylarinus,  Venetian  consul 


Three  Historians  and  a  Poet  113 

at  Smyrna,  giving  a  very  favorable  account  of  the  operation,  and 
he  recommended  a  trial  to  the  physicians  of  the  town,  but  they 
all  declined  it  except  Doctor  Boylston,  who  made  himself  very 
obnoxious.  To  show  the  confidence  he  had  of  success  he  began 
with  his  own  children  and  servants.  Many  sober,  pious  people 
were  struck  with  horror  and  were  of  opinion  that  if  any  of 
his  patients  should  die,  he  ought  to  be  treated  as  a  murderer. 
The  vulgar  were  enraged  to  that  degree  that  his  family  was 
hardly  safe  in  his  house,  and  he  often  met  with  affronts  and 
insults  in  the  streets,"  etc. 

Aside  from  the  three  representative  histories  which 
have  been  mentioned  there  were  other  prose  writings 
of  the  mid-century  period,  miscellaneous  in  character, 
largely  theological,  but  with  a  goodly  proportion  of 
scientific,  political,  and  philosophical  topics  interspersed. 
The  most  of  this  is  not  worth  reading.  'It  is  interesting 
only  as  a  sign  that  the  colonial  mind  wis  broadening.  A 
few  titles,  however,  arrest  attention.  "  Ptolemy,  King  of 
the  Gypsies ;  New  and  True  Egyptian  Fortune-Teller, " 
Boston,  1753,  and  the  next  year  "Tom  Thumb,  the 
Monster  of  Monsters."  As  an  antidote  to  these  danger- 
ous books  appears  "  The  Youth's  Entertaining  Amuse- 
ment ;  or,  A  Plain  Guide  to  Psalmody."  The  dissipation 
of  the  singing  school  had  probably  begun  to  threaten 
communities.  But  John  Witherspoon's  "  Serious  Inquiry 
into  the  Nature  and  Effects  of  the  Stage, "  smothered  any 
longings  after  the  theatre  which  a  Boston  boy  might  have 
in  his  dreams.  He  would  be  an  old  man  before  he  should 
witness  a  spectacular  play  in  waking  hours.  The  anony- 
mous author  of  "  Be  Merry  and  be  Wise,"  knew  better 
than  to  go  beyond  the  signature  "T.  T."  in  the  year  of 
the  accession  of  George  III.  He  was  doubtless  rebuked 
when  he  read  in  the  following  year  Francis  Worcester's 


114  American  Literature 

"  Else,  Travels,  and  Triumph  of  Death."  In  fine,  the 
pleasantry  of  literature  at  this  time  is  suggestive  of  the 
smile  of  a  skulL 

The  poet  of  the  age  who  was  most  appreciated  was  Dr. 
Mather  Byles,  the  magnificent.  He  was  more  than  half 
Mather  ^^  accomplishcd  and  three-quarters  as  impos- 

Byies.  ^g  ^g  ^j^g  magnate  whose  name  he  bore,  the 

author  of  the  "  Magnalia."  His  unprofessional  studies 
were  in  English  classics  as  well  as  in  ancient,  a  notable 
exception  to  the  habit  of  his  day.  His  proclivity  for 
letters  was  surpassed  only  by  his  pulpit  eloquence  and  his 
wit.  He  knew  what  was  current  in  literary  circles  in 
England  and  corresponded  with  Lansdowne,  Watts,  and 
Pope.  The  last  complimented  the  American  poet  by  send- 
ing him  a  fine  copy  of  his  translation  of  the  "  Odyssey," 
a  book  which  Dr.  Byles  accompanied  with  his  own  verses 
in  lending  it : 

"  Go,  my  dear  Pope,  transport  th'  attentive  fair, 
And  soothe  with  winning  harmony  her  ear, 
*T  will  add  new  graces  to  thy  heav'nly  song, 
To  be  repeated  by  her  gentle  tongue. 
Old  Homer's  shade  shall  smile  if  she  commend. 
And  Pope  be  proud  to  write  as  Byles  to  lend." 

Beginning  his  versifying  in  college,  he  kept  it  up 
through  life  at  intervals.  It  will  not  be  necessary  to 
prove  that  he  was  bom  and  died  a  loyalist  after  the 
following  example  of  his  verse,  which  might  have  been 
entitled,  "  The  King  is  Dead ;  Long  Live  the  King ! " 

"  He  dies  !  let  nature  own  the  direful  blow, 
Sigh  all  ye  winds,  with  tears  the  rivers  flow, 
Let  the  wide  ocean,  loud  in  anguish,  roar, 
And  tides  of  grief  pour  plenteous  on  the  shore  ; 
No  more  the  spring  shall  bloom,  or  morning  rise, 
But  night  eternal  wrap  the  sable  skies." 


Three  Historians  and  a  Poet  115 

Then  is  illustrated  the  sudden  wrench  to  which  poets 
laureate  are  sometimes  subjected : 

"  Enough,  my  muse,  give  all  thy  tears  away ; 
Break,  ye  dull  shades,  and  rise  the  rosy  day. 
Let  Britain's  sorrows  cease,  her  joys  enlarge. 
The  First  revives  the  Second  George. 
Hail,  mighty  prince,  O  shining  sovereign,  hail  ! 
Fain  would  the  muse  lisp  her  prophetic  tale  ; 
In  mystic  lays  the  future  years  relate, 
And  sing  the  records  of  unripened  state," 

which  the  loyal  American  then  proceeds  to  do  in 
couplets  that  Pope,'  his  master,  might  have  approved 
in  a  double  sense.  Still,  the  improvement  in  imitation 
is  great,  and  the  copy  is  better  than  hitherto.  Even  in 
lighter  strain  some  contemporary  hit  ofif  the  majestic 
divine  in  better  form  than  that  of  the  ancient  elegy : 

"  There 's  punning  Byles,  provokes  our  smiles, 

A  man  of  stately  parts. 
He  visits  folks  to  crack  his  jokes, 

"Which  never  mend  their  hearts. 
With  strutting  gait  and  wig  so  great, 

He  walks  along  the  streets, 
And  throws  out  wit,  or  what  *s  like  it, 

To  every  one  he  meets." 

But  there  is  hope  for  the  American  muse.  Its  first 
agony  is  over  and  its  writhings  begin  to  be  graceful.  At 
least  it  is  in  the  prevailing  mode  of  London  Town. 


XI 

REMONSTRANT  WRITERS 

About  the  year  1765  American  writings  took  on  a  new 

form  and  spirit.     For  a  century  and  a  half  the  colonists 

had  been  carrying  the  separatist  principle  into 

^para  ion      ^j^gj^j.  religious  and  political  life.     Massachu- 

Association.  t.t  ,.  i.-r-.i-iTTiT 

setts  desired  nothmg  of  Rhode  Island  beyond 
keeping  its  own  side  of  the  line.  Virginia  had  no  favors 
to  ask  of  Maryland,  nor  Pennsylvania  of  New  York. 
Each  settlement  cultivated  the  traditional  seclusion  of 
the  Briton  in  his  country  house,  and  kept  itself  removed 
from  the  highways  of  the  world's  life  and  literature.  But 
from  the  parliament-house  in  London  these  scattered  plan- 
tations easily  narrowed  into  a  single  strip  of  farms  and 
fishing  stations  from  which  revenue  might  be  raised  for 
the  crown.  Oppressive  legislation  to  secure  tribute  forced 
upon  these  isolated  and  exclusive  communities  the  idea 
of  confederation,  which  events  at  length  matured  into 
that  of  union.  This  thought  of  association,  now  so 
familiar  after  more  than  one  hundred  years  of  the  fact, 
was  the  idle  dream  of  a  few  visionary  radicals  in  1765,  and 
a  nightmare  to  everybody  else.  Nevertheless  the  writings 
of  the  succeeding  decade  show  that  a  strong  diversion  had 
taken  place  in  colonial  thought  and  in  the  manner  of 
makinj?  it  known. 

116 


Remonstrant  Writers  117 

All  the  energy  which  had  hitherto  gone  into  theological 
athletics  now  found  a  field  for  its  exercise  in  discussion  of 
the  rights  of  the  British  subject.  Polemics  of  pojjticai 
the  meeting-house  began  to  yield  the  floor  ^«<="*"oo- 
to  debates  of  the  town  meeting  in  the  interest  of  crys- 
tallizing colonies.  The  same  change  is  noticeable  in 
printed  matter,  and  Edwards'  treatise  on  "  Original  Sin  " 
was  laid  aside  for  Franklin's  "  Cool  Thoughts  on  the 
Present  Situation  of  Our  Public  Affairs."  Prognostics  of 
this  change  had  been  discerned  by  the  weather-wise  as  far 
back  as  the  mid-century. 

In  the  very  year  that  Franklin  was  explaining  his  theory 
of  thunder  gusts  Jonathan  Mahew  discoursed  concerning 
"Unlimited  Submission  and  Non-resistance  to  Higher 
Powers."  Later  Franklin  stirred  up  Eichard  Jackson 
to  write  about  "The  Interest  of  Great  Britain  with 
Eegard  to  Her  Colonies,"  to  say  nothing  of  appeals  and 
remonstrances  that  were  frequently  sent  to  the  home 
government. 

It  was  not,  however,  until  the  threatened  passing  of  the 
stamp  act  that  our  literature  began  to  bristle  with  pens 
engaged  in  the  controversy  for  constitutional  rights. 
Hitherto  American  writings  had  made  little  stir  abroad, 
and  with  good  reason.  Now  they  began  to  command 
attention  through  their  relation  to  the  British  exchequer 
first,  and  then  by  their  dignity,  strength,  and  knowledge. 
They  were  a  revelation  to  the  English  people  of  growth  in 
wisdom  and  power  unexpected  in  a  child  who  had  been 
living  so  far  from  home  among  savages.  "  Eeally,  it  was 
quite  remarkable,"  and  more  remarkable  twenty  years 
later.  There  is  such  an  abundance  of  this  new  literature 
of  reasonable   protest   and   argumentative   remonstrance 


ii8  .American  Literature 

that  a  complete  enumeration  and  the  slightest  charac- 
terization of  its  writers  would  exceed  the  limits  assigned 
to  this  topic.  Mention  must  therefore  be  restricted  to  its 
leading  contributors,  and  be  brief  at  that. 

Franklin  has  already  been  spoken  of  as  the  forerunner 
of  a  departure  in  miscellaneous  writing  from  previous 
James  Otis  fashious.  Hc  is  also  a  pioneer  in  political 
and  others,  pamphleteering,  which  itself  gave  way  to  the 
essay  in  newspapers.  The  record  of  what  he  did  with 
his  pen  in  the  course  of  a  long  career  in  the  service  of 
his  country  may  be  seen  -in  his  published  works;  the 
actual  results  which  he  accomplished  may  never  be  fully 
known. 

Next  to  him  in  the  order  of  time  and  foremost  in  the 
North  was  James  Otis.  His  pamphlet  on  "  The  Eights  of 
the  British  Colonies  Asserted  and  Proved,"  1764,  adver- 
V  tised  the  strained  relations  between  England  and  America, 
pointed  out  the  injustice  of  recent  legislation,  based  an 
appeal  for  redress  upon  the  rights  of  the  governed  as  pro- 
tected by  the  British  constitution,  and  deplored  alienation 
from  the  mother  country  and  the  king.  It  was  the  final 
word  of  a  loyalty  which  could  not  and  would  not  become  a 
slavery.  It  was  a  restatement  of  the  rights  which  the 
barons  asserted  at  Eunnymede.  It  rested  upon  the  bed- 
rock of  Magna  Charta.  Thus  it  became  itself  a  pyramid 
of  constitutional  logic  from  which  other  writers  soon  began 
to  quarry  the  comer  stones  of  their  several  edifices,  built 
each  after  a  style  of  its  own.  But  the  sublime  original 
will  always  stand  as  a  landmark  at  the  dividing  of  the 
ways.  It  did  much  to  divide  them,  notwithstanding  its 
sincere  protests  of  reverence  and  love  for  Great  Britain. 
The  colonies  saw  their  cause  stated  as  they  had  not  been 


Remonstrant  Writers  119 

able  to  formulate  it  themselves.  The  grievance  had  been 
defined ;  should  it  be  borne  submissively,  or  further  pro- 
tested against,  or  forcibly  resisted  ?  The  answer  to  this 
threefold  question  was  not  uniform.  The  last  two  phases 
of  it  had  each  its  advocates.  Oxenbridge  Thacher's  "  Sen- 
timents of  a  British  American"  should  be  read  to  learn 
how  conciliatory  and  moderate  the  best  colonial  temper 
tried  to  be,  and  was,  under  provocation,  and  loyal  withal  to 
the  throne.  The  pamphlet  debate  which  took  place  be- 
tween governor  Stephen  Hopkins  of  Providence  and 
lawyer  Martin  Howard  of  Newport,  out  of  which  the 
impulsive  Otis  could  not  keep  himself,  illustrates  the  divi- 
sions that  had  already  begun  to  separate  neighbors  and 
families,  and  would  by  and  by  send  many  to  Halifax.  It 
also  exemplifies  the  kind  of  literature  which  these  stalwart 
statesmen  were  making.  The  thought-habit  of  it  had  been 
bred  in  the  meeting-house  and  the  court-house  for  genera- 
tions, but  the  style  of  it  was  not  the  antique  manner  of 
either  Dr.  Mather  or  Judge  Sewall.  Samuel  Johnson's 
orotund  deliverances  had  reached  New  England,  or,  at  least, 
his  dictionary  had  arrived,  and  the  rhythmic  majesty  of  a 
ponderous  dictioil  suited  well  the  dignity  of  such  themes 
as  were  to  be  discussed  by  cultivated  men  in  two  hemi- 
spheres. It  was  as  noble  as  the  issues  at  stake;  as 
stately  as  the  manners  of  the  time.  Affected  pedantry 
was  driven  out  by  the  momentous  questions  impending; 
expletives  of  emotion  restrained  by  an  overshadowing 
storm  cloud  that  was  gathering.  One  cannot  read  these 
pamphlets  and  others  like  them  without  knowing  that 
they  dealt  with  one  of  the  upheavals  of  history  and  that 
the  men  who  wrote  them  had  already  been  lifted  to  a 
higher  level 


I20  American  Literature 

Moreover,  candor  forces  the  admission  that  in  literary 
execution  loyalist  writers  are  not  behind  the  patriot.  A 
Loyalist  ccntury  and  a  quarter  of  inbred  contempt  for 
Writers.  ^-^q  Tory  may  have  induced  color  blindness  in 
our  criticism.  If  so,  the  historic  imagination  must  be 
invoked  to  set  us  back  to  the  days  when  all  were  as  yet 
citizens  of  an  empire  upon  which  the  sun  did  not  set, 
and  of  which  all  its  subjects  were  proud,  even  if  its  rulers 
were  unwise.  In  the  commotion  of  change  from  colonies 
to  free  states  some  actors  were  slower  in  movement  than 
others,  and  some  clung  to  the  old  home  government  to 
their  immense  cost ;  but  estimates  of  literature  must  be 
independent  of  even  the  noblest  issues  in  contests  which 
create  it,  and  fairness  to  both  sides  is  essential  to  the 
completeness  of  even  an  outline  sketch. 

The  side  of  resistance  to  the  Crown  had  no  more  earnest 
champion  with  tongue  or  pen  than  Samuel  Adams.  He 
Samuel  '^^^  great  in  town-meeting,  but  his  revolution- 

Adams.  ^^^  articles  in  the  newspapers,  his  "Circular 

Letter  to  Each  Colonial  Legislature,"  his  "  Appeal  to  the 
World ;  or,  A  Vindication  of  the  Town  of  Boston,"  and  his 
"  Earnest  Appeal  to  the  People  "  were  powerful  instrumen- 
talities in  strengthening  the  fast-growing  spirit  of  union 
for  separation  from  Great  Britain.  More  than  Franklin, 
even,  he  represents  the  forceful  literature  of  the  public 
press  in  that  period.  Through  the  columns  of  the  "  Boston 
Gazette,"  the  "  Massachusetts  Spy,"  and  the  "  Providence 
Gazette,"  he  reached  a  majority  of  New  England  homes, 
and  was  copied  in  the  journals  of  other  provinces.  A 
letter  of  his  in  the  last-named  paper  on  March  18, 1769, 
is  probably  the  first  printed  intimation  of  a  possible  rup- 
ture with  England.     Owning  no  newspaper  himself,  he 


Remonstrant  Writers  121 

was  the  chief  journalist  in  several.  Not  as  Sam  Adams 
alone,  but  as  a  dozen  writers,  for  all  that  readers  could 
guess  by  his  various  signatures.  His  political  principles, 
however,  never  varied  through  all  their  multiform  expo- 
sitions by  his  pen.  In  state  papers  written  for  public 
assemblies,  in  open  letters  addressed  to  those  in  authority, 
or  to  the  people  as  the  source  of  all  authority,  he  was  the 
creator  or  director  of  opinion.  His  writings  constitute  a 
large  part  of  the  literature  which  helped  on  the  great  rev- 
olution in  thoughts  that  preceded  revolutionary  acts. 

The  name  and  writings  of  Josiah  Quincy  should  be 
classed  with  those  of  Otis  and  Adams  as  remonstrants 
against  the  encroachments  of  Britain.  The  three  together 
represent  the  advanced  attitude  of  New  England  in  this 
period  of  political  controversy.  More  than  others  they 
snuffed  the  battle  from  afar  and  hastened  to  meet  its 
coming. 

The  predominant  sentiment  of  the  decade  before  the 
Declaration  of  Independence  had  an  able  exponent  in  John 
Dickinson  of  Pennsylvania  and  other  middle 
colonies  in  which  he  lived  and  labored.     He  son"the*^ 

,,.  1.11  ••  <.!.  -I  Conservative. 

believed,  with  the  majority  of  colonists  at  that 
time,  that  colonial  liberty  might  be  secured  without  sac- 
rificing union  with  the  mother  country.  To  maintain 
and  encourage  this  view  of  affairs  he  wrote  unceasingly. 
Pamphlets  and  newspaper  articles  flowed  from  his  pen. 
People  awaited  with  eager  expectancy  the  weekly  instal- 
ments of  his  "  Farmer's  Letters."  They  read  with  admira- 
tion the  state  papers  which  he  framed  for  assemblies  and 
conventions.  His  "  resolutions,"  "  petitions,"  "  instruc- 
tions," and  "  addresses,"  and  other  documents  of  similar 
character  and  importance,  show  that  he  was  the  trusted 


122  American  Literature 

spokesman  of  the  majority.  They  earned  him  the  title  of 
the  "  Penman  of  the  Eevolution."  Such  he  continued  to 
be  until  the  oppressive  measures  of  the  British  ministry 
drove  the  larger  part  of  the  colonists  beyond  their  patient, 
loyal,  and  hopeful  position  to  a  resort  to  arms  for  the 
defence  of  their  constitutional  rights.  But  John  Dickin- 
son stood  unmoved  in  his  conservative  belief,  although  he 
manifested  his  patriotism  by  joining  the  army  when  the 
issue  came  to  the  trial  by  combat.  His  "Farmer's  Let- 
ters "  will  always  remain  as  interpreters  of  the  remonstrant 
period  in  the  great  transition.  Protesting  against  the 
thought  of  independence  as  a  fatal  calamity,  he  insists 
upon  freedom  and  the  recognition  of  rights  by  the  Crown 
and  Parliament.  With  equal  sincerity  he  urges  loyalty 
and  a  dignified  appeal  to  the  British  sense  of  justice  and 
to  the  principles  of  English  liberty.  Such  consistency 
was  appreciated  by  wise  and  prudent  statesmen  in  Parlia- 
ment and  out  of  it,  but  they  were  in  the  minority  and  the 
King's  fools  in  the  majority.  The  few  wise  men  by  their 
wisdom  could  not  save  the  state;  also  the  foolish  were 
destined  to  precipitate  the  conflict  which  lost  them  the 
best  half  of  a  continent.  None  the  less  valuable,  how- 
ever, as  political  literature  are  the  writings  of  the  man 
who  stood  for  moderation,  restraint,  and  what  is  now 
known  as  the  policy  of  arbitration.  War  became  the 
final  resort  because  compelled,  but  this  necessity  detracted 
nothing  from  the  higher  statesmanship  of  Dickinson  and 
the  nobility  of  his  writings.  These  had  a  wider  recog- 
nition than  those  of  any  other  man  except  Pranklin. 
Published  in  four-fifths  of  the  colonial  newspapers  week 
by  week,  the  '*  Farmer's  Letters "  were  afterward  printed 
in  eight  editions  here,  three  in  Great  Britain  and  one 


Remonstrant  Writers  123 

on  the  continent,  where  their  sentiments  were  received 
with  great  approbation.  For  a  time  the  author  was  the 
first  man  of  letters  in  America. 

The  dominant  note  of  these  Letters  is  indicated  in  the 
third  of  them,  which  also  shows  the  divisions  in  public 
sentiment  and  the  moderate  position  of  its  writer  as  com- 
pared, for  instance,  with  Paine  at  one  extreme  and  Seabury 
at  the  other. 

"  Sorry  I  am  to  learn  that  there  are  some  few  persons  who 
shake  their  heads  with  solemn  motion,  and  pretend  to  wonder 
what  can  be  the  meaning  of  these  letters.  Great  Britain,  they 
say,  is  too  powerful  to  contend  with;  she  is  determined  to 
oppress  us ;  it  is  vain  to  speak  of  right  on  one  side  when  there 
is  power  on  the  other ;  when  we  are  strong  enough  to  resist  we 
shall  attempt  it ;  but  now  we  are  not  strong  enough  and  there- 
fore we  had  better  be  quiet ;  it  signifies  nothing  to  convince  us 
that  our  rights  are  invaded  when  we  cannot  defend  them.  .  .  . 
Are  these  men  ignorant  that  usurpations,  which  might  have 
been  successfully  opposed  at  first,  acquire  strength  by  continu- 
ance, and  thus  become  irresistible  1  Do  they  condemn  the  con- 
duct of  these  colonies  concerning  the  stamp-act  ?  Or  have  they 
forgot  its  successful  issue  1  Ought  the  colonies  at  that  time  to 
have  trusted  for  relief  to  the  fortuitous  events  of  futurity  1  .  ,  , 
Therefore  it  becomes  necessary  to  enquire  whether  *  our  rights 
are  invaded  V  .  .  .  I  will  now  tell  the  gentlemen  what  is  the 
meaning  of  the  letters.  The  meaning  of  them  is,  to  convince 
the  people  of  these  colonies  that  they  are  at  this  moment 
exposed  to  the  most  imminent  dangers ;  and  to  persuade  them 
immediately,  vigorously,  and  unanimously  to  exert  themselves 
in  the  most  firm,  but  most  peaceable  manner,  for  obtaining 
relief.  The  cause  of  liberty  is  a  cause  of  too  much  dignity  to 
be  sullied  by  turbulence  and  tumult.  It  ought  to  be  main- 
tained in  a  manner  suitable  to  her  nature.  Those  who  engage 
in  it  should  breathe  a  sedate,  yet  fervent  spirit,  animating  them 
to  actions  of  prudence,  justice,  modesty,  bravery,  humanity,  and 


1 24  American  Literature 

magnanimity.  .  .  I  hope,  my  dear  countrymen,  that  you  will, 
in  every  colony,  be  on  your  guard  against  those  who  may 
endeavour  to  stir  you  up,  under  pretences  of  patriotism,  to  any 
measures  disrespectful  to  our  Sovereign  and  our  mother  country. 
Hot,  rash,  disorderly  proceedings  injure  the  reputation  of  a 
people  as  to  wisdom,  valour,  and  virtue,  without  procuring 
them  the  least  benefit." 

Thus  he  wrote  on,  counselling  moderation  and  forbear- 
ance and  loyalty  to  the  throne. 

Then  the  gust  which  whirled  before  the  storm  swept 
people  away  from  this  self-centred  statesman  in  two 
directions  —  toward  armed  resistance  on  the  part  of  the 
majority,  and  toward  unprotesting  adhesion  to  existing 
authority  by  the  remainder.  Each  division  intensified  one 
of  the  two  sentiments  which  all  had  formerly  held  in 
common  —  liberty  and  loyalty.  The  expression  of  these 
emotions  constitutes  the  literature  of  the  last  part  of  this 
period  in  its  two  branches,  which  diverged  more  and  more, 
until  one  of  them  culminated  in  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence, and  the  other  wasted  itself  in  profitless  dissent. 
To  mention  the  leaders  in  the  first  movement  is  all  that 
can  be  done  here  and  now. 

In  those  days  politics  shared  the  pulpit  with  divinity, 
and  the  unorthodox  Jonathan  Mahew  should  not  be  over- 
p  litics  in  looked  among  those  who  had  already  been 
and  Else-*  conspicuous  in  the  forefront  of  the  controversy, 
where.  jj-g  ggrmons  werc  mighty  inspirations  to  his 

neighbors,  but  as  literature  they  have  lost  much  of  the 
power  which  accompanied  their  delivery.  Other  divines 
echoed  his  political  doctrines  —  if  they  could  not  his  the- 
ological views  —  whose  patriotic  sermons  now  lie  buried 
in  the  crypts  of  antiquarian  libraries. 


Remonstrant  Writers  125 

It  is  rather  in  the  political  essays  of  statesmen  that  the 
driftings  of  opinion  and  the  character  of  its  literature  can 
best  be  discovered.  The  chief  writers  are  so  well  known 
and  their  writings  so  accessible  that  it  will  be  sufficient 
merely  to  allude  to  the  part  which  John  Adams,  Thomas 
Jefferson,  and  Alexander  Hamilton  had  in  the  pre-revolu- 
tion  controversy. 

Less  eminent  men  and  writers  contribute  to  the  litera- 
ture of  ferment  and  transition,  both  prose  and  verse.  In 
the  latter  department  no  one  more  abundantly  than  Phihp 
Freneau.  A  Huguenot  detestation  of  tyranny,  strength- 
ened by  sufferings  on  a  British  prison-ship,  increased  the 
bitterness  of  his  satirical  verse  as  hostilities  continued. 
He  was  the  leader  of  a  band  of  versifiers,  who  created  the 
ballad  literature  of  the  revolution,  which,  by  presenting 
the  ludicrous  side  of  misery,  did  much  to  cheer  the  hearts 
of  patriot  soldiers.  Its  answering  verse  from  the  other 
side  did  something  toward  relieving  the  animosity  of  the 
loyalists.  The  two  together,  like  the  two  corresponding 
branches  of  prose  writing,  are  reflections  of  the  thoughts 
and  emotions  of  a  divided  people,  who  were  apprehensive 
and  hopeful,  fearful  and  desperate  by  turns  in  face  of  an 
imminent  catastrophe. 

In  both  prose  and  verse,  however,  a  marked  improve- 
ment is  observed.  The  subjects  of  treatment  were  in  the 
line  of  immediate  and  vital  concern,  close  to  men's  hearts 
and  homes.  Life  and  liberty  were  involved  in  the  discus- 
sion. Emotion  as  well  as  thought  pervaded  its  expression. 
Heart  as  well  as  head  engaged  in  its  handling.  There 
was  no  time  or  room  for  nonsense.  With  an  experimental 
acquaintance  with  the  traditional  policy  of  Great  Britain 
on  the  part  of  these  writers,  and  a  long  training  in  the 


126  American  Literature 

vigorous  use  of  the  vernacular,  what  but  a  sterling  politi- 
cal literature  should  result  ?  ^ 


1  Readers  are  referred  to  the  following  titles  :  "  Works  of  John  Adams," 
ten  volumes,  Boston,  1850;  "Samuel  Adams'  Life  and  Public  Services," 
"Wells,  Boston,  1865 ;  "  John  Dickinson's  Political  Writings,"  Wilming- 
ton, 1801 ;  "Alexander  Hamilton's  Works,"  New  York,  1850  ;  "Jeffer- 
son's Writings,"  New  York,  1859  ;  "James  Otis'  Life,"  by  Tudor,  1823  ; 
"  Jonathan  Mahew's  Life  and  Writings,"  by  A.  Bradford  ;  "  Josiah 
Quincy's  Speeches,"  Boston,  1874.  Biographical  details  of  interest  may 
also  be  found  in  the  "American  Statesmen  Series." 


xn 

WRITERS  AND  SPEAKERS  OF  THE  REVOLUTION 

Every  one  knows  that  war  does  not  immediately  promote 
the  growth  of  literature.  The  muses  never  did  get  on 
well  with  Mars  while  he  was  busy.  Only  when  his  work 
is  done  and  can  be  contemplated  at  a  safe  distance  can  an 
undisturbed  view  of  it  or  of  anything  else  be  taken. 
Homer  could  not  have  written  the  Iliad  in  Achilles*  tent. 
The  only  literature  that  was  produced  there  and  by  the 
black  ships  along  the  Dardanian  shore  was  spoken.  The 
record  of  it  fiUs  half  of  the  great  Epic.  Oratory  is  pre- 
eminently the  literature  of  warring  periods. 

All  writing  did  not  cease,  to  be  sure,  with  the  climax  of 
pre-revolution  letters,  the  Declaration  of  Independence, 
but  the  resources  of  argument,  persuasion,  and  p^^^  words 
appeal  in  political  and  state  papers  had  been  *°^^°w^- 
well-nigh  exhausted.  Addresses  to  the  Throne  and  peti- 
tions to  Parliament  had  ended  in  sending  taxed  tea  and 
four  regiments  to  collect  damages  incident  to  landing  it  in 
the  water  of  Boston  harbor.  Then  Pitcairn's  pistol  gave 
the  signal  to  drop  pens  and  to  fix  bayonets.  What  was 
written  after  that  was  inspired  by  violent  emotion  of  one 
kind  and  another.  High  words  sprung  from  high  temper, 
itself  raised  by  high-handed  injustice.  Its  natural  and 
ready  expression  is  ridicule  and  irony,  satire  and  sarcasm. 
With  these   moods   revolution  writings   begin   to  teem. 

127 


128  American  Literature 

Angry  words  bubble  up  like  froth  from  the  boiling. 
Satirical  pamphlets  are  thrown  back  and  forth  by  Whig 
and  Tory  like  the  taunts  of  soldiers  from  opposing  lines. 
They  are  often  weighted  with  solid  reason  and  sometimes 
heavy  with  argument,  but  they  are  pointed  with  steel. 
Often  their  impact  causes  an  explosion  of  laughter  on  one 
side,  of  wrath  on  the  other,  followed  by  violence  and  this 
by  retaliation.  Thus  the  wordy  war  went  on  by  the  side 
of  an  armed  conflict,  as  the  shouts  of  battle  accompany 
death-dealing  missiles. 

If  these  ephemeral  and  spirited  productions  are  to  be 
rated  for  their  literary  value,  allowance  must  be  made  for 
the  disturbed  conditions  in  which  they  were  turned  out. 
Even  when  they  are  assigned  to  their  secondary  class  of 
satirical  composition  it  is  not  always  that  they  can  take 
the  first  rank.  It  is  only  as  the  patriot  writer  or  as  the 
loyalist,  who  was  sometimes  patriotic  too,  kept  in  the 
region  of  first  principles  that  he  made  the  literature  of 
this  stormy  time  first-class. 

The  essayist  who  did  this  most  creditably  was  Thomas 

Paine.     His  cloudy  decline  in  the  afternoon  of  life  has 

done  much  to  obscure  his  early  fame  for  those 

Thomas  •' 

"Common  ^^^  ^°  ^^^  kuow  how  great  his  services  for 
Sense."  ^-^q   causc   of   frccdom   were.      Coming    from 

England  with  a  letter  of  introduction  from  Franklin,  he 
cast  in  his  lot  with  Americans  at  a  critical  time  and  with 
the  fullest  sympathy  with  its  most  advanced  sentiment. 
Of  this  he  became  the  interpreter  and  advocate.  Up  to  the 
battle  of  Lexington,  and  even  later,  the  idea  of  indepen- 
dence had  been  repudiated  by  all  but  a  few  radicals.  It 
was  a  project  threatening  the  unity  of  the  British  empire. 
If  a  globe  of  glass  is  struck  where  will  the  fracture  end  ? 


Writers  and  Speakers  of  the  Revolution     1 29 

But  Paine  was  not  concerned  about  the  integrity  of  the 
globe  so  much  as  about  the  welfare  of  the  people  who 
lived  on  the  western  side  of  it.  Accordingly  he  wrote 
"  Common  Sense,"  a  pamphlet  whose  motto  might  have 
been, "  How  long  halt  ye  between  two  opinions  ? "  It  was 
an  out-and-out  call  to  withdraw  from  British  citizenship 
and  to  set  up  a  new  government.  Its  circulation  and 
success  were  immense.  Hundreds  of  thousands  read  it. 
The  fabric  of  loyalty  which  the  people  had  been  sincerely 
and  fondly  cherishing  tumbled  to  the  fall  when  this  mis- 
sile crashed  against  it.  No  doubt  the  fair  edifice  was 
honeycombed  with  revolt  beyond  men's  open  admission, 
but  the  shell  was  still  standing  in  apparent  good  order 
when  in  January,  1776,  this  pamphlet  laid  open  before 
them  their  unspoken  thoughts  and  their  suppressed  fears 
or  their  secret  hopes,  as  the  case  might  be. 

Of  course  it  was  received  with  corresponding  delight  or 
dismay,  but  in  either  event  it  was  an  appeal  to  abandon 
the  position  of  remonstrants  and  suppliants  to  the  Throne, 
and  to  demand  freedom  as  an  independent  people.  Six 
months  afterward  the  response  came  in  the  Declaration  of 
Independence.  It  is  too  much  to  say  that  this  climacteric 
pamphlet  of  Paine's  evolved  the  crowning  state  paper  of 
the  colonial  age.  It  is  enough  to  assert  that  this  prince 
of  pamphleteers  happened  to  be  the  man  in  whose  hand 
the  pointed  stick  drew  flame  that  flashed  far  and  wide  in 
an  atmosphere  surcharged  with  St.  Elmo's  fire.  This 
spirited  monograph  and  his  "  Crisis  "  that  followed  it  may 
not  belong  to  the  literature  of  knowledge,  according  to  De 
Quincey's  distinction,  but  they  evidently  pertained  to  the 
literature  of  power.  One  manifestation  of  this  was  the 
inspiring  quality  in  them  which  called  out  many  others  in 


130  American  Literature 

sympathy  or  hostility.  Then  war  came  flooding  along 
the  coast,  and  above  its  seething  crests  a  spindrift  of  bitter 
words  flew  hissing,  to  fall  back  into  oblivion.  Out  of  this 
it  is  not  needful  to  drag  what  had  a  momentary  interest 
which  can  never  be  revived  except  for  the  historian.  But 
in  that  day  those  tracts  for  troubled  times  stood  in  the 
shadow  of  mighty  names  like  Franklin  and  Jefferson  and 
Witherspoon  and  Odell,  William  Smith,  Johnson,  Seabury, 
Chauncy,  Stiles,  Duffield,  Cooper,  Hopkinson  and  Bracken- 
ridge,  who  with  their  respective  following  on  either  side 
filled  the  air  with  a  snowstorm  of  pamphlets  and  sermons, 
ballads  and  broadsides.  These  did  effective  work  in 
strengthening  the  convictions,  in  firing  the  hearts,  and  in 
cheering  the  spirits  of  civilians  and  soldiers ;  but  when 
their  work  was  done  their  life  was  over  and  they  must  be 
classed  among  the  ephemera  of  literature. 

This,  however,  is  not  the  case  with  Paine's  "  Common 
Sense  "  and  "  Crisis,"  as  a  few  extracts  will  indicate.  He 
remarks  toward  the  end  of  the  first  pamphlet : 

"  I  have  never  met  with  a  man,  either  in  England  or  America, 
who  hath  not  confessed  his  opinion,  that  a  separation  between 
the  countries  would  take  place  at  one  time  or  other  :  And  there 
is  no  instance  in  which  we  have  shown  less  judgment,  than  in 
endeavoring  to  describe,  what  we  call  the  ripeness  or  fitness  of 
the  Continent  for  independence.  As  all  men  allow  the  measure, 
and  vary  only  in  their  opinion  of  the  time,  let  us,  in  order  to 
remove  mistakes,  take  a  general  survey  of  things,  and  endeavour 
if  possible  to  find  out  the  very  time.  But  I  need  not  go  far,  the 
inquiry  ceases  at  once,  for  the  time  hath  found  us.  The  general 
concurrence  of  all  things  proves  the  fact. 

"  The  infant  state  of  the  Colonies,  as  it  is  called,  so  far  from 
being  against,  is  an  argument  in  favor  of  independence.  We  are 
sufficently  numerous,  and  were  we  more  so  we  might  be  less 


Writers  and  Speakers  of  the  Revolution     131 

united.  Youth  is  the  seed-time  of  good  habits  in  nations  as  in 
individuals.  It  might  be  difficult,  if  not  impossible,  to  form  the 
Continent  into  one  Government  half  a  century  hence.  The  vast 
variety  of  interests,  occasioned  by  an  increase  of  trade  and 
population,  would  create  confusion.  Colony  would  be  against 
Colony.  Wherefore  the  present  time  is  the  true  time  for 
establishing  union.  It  is  that  time  which  never  happens  to  a 
nation  but  once,  viz.  the  time  of  forming  itself  into  a  government. 
Most  nations  have  let  slip  the  opportunity,  and  by  that  means 
have  been  compelled  to  receive  laws  from  their  conquerors 
instead  of  making  laws  for  themselves. 

"To  conclude,  however  strange  it  may  appear  to  some,  or 
however  unwilling  they  may  be  to  think  so,  matters  not,  but 
many  strong  and  striking  reasons  may  be  given  to  show,  that 
nothing  can  settle  our  affairs  so  expeditiously  as  an  open  and 
determined  declaration  for  independence  .  .  .  and  until  an 
independence  is  declared,  the  Continent  will  feel  itself  like  a 
man  who  continues  putting  off  some  unpleasant  business  from 
day  to  day,  yet  knows  it  must  be  done,  hates  to  set  about  it, 
wishes  it  over,  and  is  continually  haunted  with  the  thoughts 
of  its  necessity." 

So  in  "  The  Crisis  "  a  more  urgent  appeal  is  made : 

*'  Whether  the  independence  of  the  Continent  was  declared 
too  soon,  or  delayed  too  long,  I  will  not  now  enter  into  as  an 
argument.  My  own  simple  opinion  is,  that  had  it  been  eight 
months  earlier,  it  would  have  been  much  better.  Indepen- 
dence was  a  doctrine  scarce  and  rare  even  towards  the  con- 
clusion of  the  year  1775  ;  all  our  politics  had  been  founded  on 
the  hope  or  expectation  of  making  the  matter  up  —  a  hope 
which  though  general  on  the  side  of  America,  had  never  entered 
the  head  or  heart  of  the. British  Court.  Good  heavens!  what 
volumes  of  thanks  does  America  owe  to  Britain  !  What  infinite 
obligations  to  the  tool  that  fills,  with  paradoxical  vacancy,  the 
throne!  ...  As  politicians  we  ought  not  so  much  to  ground 
our  hopes  on  the  reasonableness  of  the  thing  we  ask,  as  on  the 


13^  American  Literature 

reasonableness  of  the  person  of  whom  we  ask  it :  who  would 
expect  discretion  from  a  fool,  candor  from  a  tyrant,  or  justice 
from  a  villain  1  '* 

So  busy  were  the  writers  of  the  war  decade  with  its 

immediate  issues  and  so  distracted  by  its  turmoil  that 

little  else  was  produced.     To  this  statement 

tureof  there  is   one   notable    exception,    which   has 

Oratory. 

already  been  mentioned  —  namely,  the  litera- 
ture which  was  spoken  in  deliberative  or  other  assemblies. 
If  there  is  any  objection  to  calling  oratory  a  branch  of 
literature  a  long  discussion  may  be  cut  short  by  remark- 
ing that  the  literary  wealth  of  the  ancient  and  modern 
world  would  shrink  amazingly  if  the  recorded  discourse 
of  "  speaking  men  "  were  eliminated.  Pens  and  paper  are 
not  indispensable  to  the  expression  of  thoughts  that 
appeal  to  mind  and  heart  with  perennial  interest — and 
what  else  is  literature?  Moreover,  some  of  the  most 
beautiful  and  sublime  of  these  creations  have  been  uttered 
before  they  were  written  down  by  the  speaker,  as  is  the 
case  with  early  poetry  itself. 

This  is  true  with  respect  to  much  of  the  oratory  which 
sprung  up  in  the  stirring  period  before  and  during  the 
Patrick  revolutionary  war.     An  early  and  prominent 

Henry.  instaucc  was  afforded  by  the  spontaneous  elo- 

quence of  Patrick  Henry.  He  was  not  a  person  from 
whom  preeminent  literary  achievement  could  have  been 
expected  so  far  as  education  and  training  could  promote 
it.  The  most  satisfactory  solution  of  the  quandary  here 
suggested  is  to  say  that  he  was  born  to  be  an  orator,  as 
Shakespeare  was  born  to  be  a  dramatist.  The  story  of 
his  sudden  rise  and  his  triumphal  career  needs  no  repeti- 
tion.    His  speeches  for  the  defence  and  confirmation  of 


Writers  and  Speakers  of  the  Revolution     133 

liberty  are  the  first  literature  that  the  American  school- 
boy learns  by  heart.  Their  doctrine  stays  with  him 
through  all  the  wars  and  in  all  the  years  of  peace.  But 
there  is  a  drawback  to  this  familiarity.  It  is  unfortu- 
nate for  the  records  of  spoken  thought  that  the  best 
examples  of  it  are  cheapened  by  frequent  repetition  until 
the  meaning  and  power  of  the  first  utterance  are  lost. 
What  would  the  reading  of  Henry's  immortal  sentences 
be  to  a  man  who  had  not  heard  them  caricatured  every 
week  of  his  schooldays,  or,  better,  if  he  had  never  heard 
them  at  all?  And  how  much  more  would  they  have 
meant  if  he  could  have  been  with  the  second  convention 
of  colonial  Virginia  in  the  old  church  at  Kichmond,  listen- 
ing with  delight  or  amazement  to  the  speaker's  practical 
declaration  of  war  against  the  foremost  nation  of  Europe, 
and  to  the  message  of  freedom  for  a  people  of  whose 
future  the  orator  himself  did  not  dream?  If  all  that 
went  with  that  speech  could  have  been  preserved  with 
the  imperfect  report  of  it,  the  literature  of  power  would 
have  no  greater  and  more  important  example  in  this 
country.  But  nine  parts  of  it  are  gone  —  gone  with  the 
thrilling  voice,  the  overwhelming  personality,  the  pro- 
phetic vision  of  the  man  who  was  most  alive  to  the 
tremendous  issue,  and  who  had  already  heard  from  afar 
the  "clanking  of  chains"  and  the  "clash  of  resounding 
arms,"  but  not  with  fear.  The  loss  of  liberty,  not  death, 
was  to  be  feared.  Of  all  this  the  traditions  only  remain, 
which  have  been  gathered  up  as  ashes  in  the  urn  of 
history.  Nevertheless  there  was  a  day  one  hundred  and 
twenty-seven  years  ago  when  heroic  thoughts,  arrayed 
in  words  of  power,  swept  the  doubtful  and  the  fearful 
along  with  the  hopeful  and  the  confident  in  the  single 


134  American  Literature 

purpose  to  find  liberty  or  death.  Therefore  these  potent 
words  of  the  foremost  orator  of  his  time  will  always  be 
ranked  with  the  best  remembered  utterances  in  all  the 
record  of  that  literature  which  moves  and  inspires. 

There  were  other  orators  in  the  South  who  would  have 
had  a  greater  fame  if  Henry  had  not  outshone  them, 
other  South-  I^ichard  Henry  Lee  was  ranked  with  him  by 
era  Orators,  qq^q  ^\^q  cousidercd  Lee's  harmonious  voice 
and  choice  diction  matched  only  by  the  former's  natural 
gifts  of  persuasive  speech.  In  a  measure  the  same  might 
have  been  said  of  John  Kutledge,  Edmund  Eandolph, 
George  Mason,  Edmund  Pendleton,  and  the  broad-minded 
South  Carolinian,  Christopher  Gadsden,  who  voiced  the 
sober  sentiment  of  the  greatest  number  when  he  said: 
"We  should  stand  upon  the  broad  common  ground  of 
those  natural  rights  that  we  all  feel  and  know  as  men  and 
as  descendants  of  Englishmen.  There  ought  to  be  no  New 
England  man,  no  New  Yorker,  known  on  the  continent, 
but  all  of  us  Americans."  George  Washington  was  almost 
the  only  man  of  eminence  in  the  South  who  did  not  dis- 
tinguish himself  at  one  time  or  another  in  the  discussions 
which  culminated  in  the  war  for  independence.  His 
part  in  that  could  excuse  him  from  contributing  to  the 
forensic  literature  of  the  time. 

While  this  was  growing  luxuriantly  in  a  region  always 
favorable  to  its  development,  a  similar  outburst  occurred 
Northern  ^  ^^®  North.  The  efficiency  of  James  Otis 
Orators.  ^^^  Samucl  Adams  as  writers  was  supple- 
mented by  their  oral  discourse.  Adams  was  the  most 
frequent  speaker  in  Boston  town-meetings.  He  spoke 
as  a  man  of  affairs  whose  opinions  were  of  more  conse- 
quence to  himself  and  others  than  the  phrases  in  which 


Writers  and  Speakers  of  the  Revolution     135 

they  were  clothed.  On  ordinary  topics  his  manner  was 
business-like,  but  under  the  stress  of  a  great  occasion 
he  rose  to  the  emergency  and  the  opportunity.  With 
Otis  the  occasion  was  made  great  by  the  brilliance  of 
his  treatment.  He  made  clear  the  character  of  colo- 
nial rights  and  asserted  them  with  daring.  In  his 
early  speech  against  writs  of  assistance  John  Adams 
called  him  "a  flame  of  fire."  "His  torrent  of  impet- 
uous eloquence  bore  all  before  him.  American  inde- 
pendence was  then  and  there  born.  Every  man  went 
away  ready  to  take  arms."  The  next  year  his  impas- 
sioned oratory  placed  him  at  the  head  of  the  popular 
party,  and  won  for  him  the  title  of  "  the  great  incendiary 
of  New  England." 

As  in  the  South  so  in  the  North  there  were  other 
speakers  whose  eloquence  has  been  forgotten  in  the 
greater  splendor  of  their  statesmanship.  Hamilton,  Jay, 
John  Adams,  Madison,  Quincy,  Livingston,  Morris,  and 
Clinton  were  able  to  maintain  their  views  with  voice  as 
well  as  pen,  or  sword,  if  necessity  required.  There  is  less 
need  to  call  attention  to  their  legacy  to  the  literature  of 
oratory,  because  it  is  known  to  every  youth  who  has  had 
to  declaim  in  school  For  this  reason  the  best  portion  of 
our  colonial  production  may  be  passed  lightly  over  and 
dismissed  with  the  remark  that  at  least  in  this  respect, 
as  in  another,  the  leaders  of  opinion  were  able  to  stand 
before  kings  and  contend  with  parliaments. 

Of  the  poets  and  poetry  of  the  Kevolution  period  so 
much  cannot  be  said  as  of  its  orators  and  eloquence.     The 
writhing  age  of  rhyme  was  past,  to  be  sure,  Revolution 
with  its  vain  conceits  and  fearful  measures,   ^°^^^' 
but  a  classic  era  had  not  taken  its  place.     The  strain  to 


136  American  Literature 

keep  up  good  courage  is  the  most  evident  quality  in  the 
verse  of  war  and  its  emphatic  politics. 

"  We  never  will  knock  under, 

0  George  !  we  do  not  fear 
The  rattling  of  your  thunder, 

Nor  lightening  of  your  spear  ; 
Though  rebels  you  declare  us, 

We  're  strangers  to  dismay  ; 
Therefore  you  cannot  scare  us 

In  North  America  " 

is  the  tone  of  a  song  which  covered  a  large  portion  of 
this  period  under  the  caption  of  "  Taxation  of  America." 

Philip  Freneau,  the  principal  versifier  of  the  time, 
wrote  in  this  manner  of  "Emancipation  from  British 
Dependence  " : 

"  From  a  junto  that  labor  for  absolute  power, 
Whose  schemes  disapointed  have  made  them  look  sour; 
From  the  lords  of  the  council,  who  fight  against  freedom 
Who  stni  follow  on  where  delusion  shall  lead  'em. 

*<  From  groups  at  St.  James's  who  slight  our  petitions, 
And  fools  that  are  waiting  for  further  submissions  ; 
From  a  nation  whose  manners  are  rough  and  abrupt. 
From  scoundrels  and  rascals  whom  gold  can  corrupt.'* 

And  of  Prince  William,  afterward  William  IV. : 

"  Prince  William,  of  the  Brunswick  race, 
To  witness  George's  sad  disgrace 

The  royal  lad  came  over, 
Kebels  to  kill,  by  right  divine  — 
Derived  from  that  illustrious  line, 

The  beggars  of  Hanover. 

« *  I  am  of  royal  birth,  't  is  true, 

But  what,  my  sons,  can  princes  do, 

No  armies  to  command  1 

■     Comwallis  conquered  and  distrest  — 

Sir  Henry  Clinton  grovna  a  jest  — 

I  curse  —  and  quit  the  land.'  " 


Writers  and  Speakers  of  the  Revolution     137 

Of  Eutaw  Springs : 

"  At  Eutaw  Springs  the  valiant  died  : 

Their  limbs  with  dust  are  covered  o*er  — 
Weep  on,  ye  springs,  your  fearful  tide  ; 
How  many  heroes  are  no  more  ! 

*  Now  rest  in  peace,  our  patriot  band ; 

Though  far  from  Nature's  limits  thrown, 
We  trust  they  find  a  happier  land, 
A  brighter  sunshine  of  their  own." 

The  above  is  as  good  as  the  best  that  was  written  and 
the  following  is  not  quite  so  bad  as  the  worst,  Burgoyne 
being  the  hero : 

**  When  Jack,  the  King's  commander. 
Was  going  to  his  duty, 
Through  all  the  crowd  he  smiled  and  bowed 
To  every  blooming  beauty. 

"  Then  off  he  went  to  Canada, 
Next  to  Ticonderoga, 
And  quitting  these  away  he  goes 
Straightway  to  Saratoga. 

**  In  vain  they  fought,  in  vain  they  fled, 
Their  chief,  humane  and  tender, 
To  save  the  rest  soon  thought  it  best 
His  forces  to  surrender." 

The  poetic  spirit  of  76  was  well  reproduced  as  late  as 
1849  in  Guy  Humphrey  McMaster's  "  Carmen  Bellico- 
sum ; " 

"  In  their  ragged  regimentals 
Stood  the  old  continentals. 

Yielding  not, 
When  the  grenadiers  were  lunging, 
And  like  hail  the  shot  fell  plunging 

Cannon  shot ; 

When  the  files 

Of  the  isles 


138  American  Literature 

From  the  smoky  night-encampment  bore  the  banner  of  the  rampant 

Unicorn 
And  grummer,  grummer,  grummer  rolled  the  roll  of  the  drummer, 

Through  the  mom ! 

"  Then  with  eyes  to  the  front  all, 
And  with  guns  horizontal 
Stood  our  sires  ; 
And  the  balls  whistled  deadly, 
And  in  streams  flashing  redly 
Blazed  the  fires ; 
As  the  roar 
On  the  shore. 
Swept  the  strong  battle  breakers  o'er  the  green  sodded  acres 

Of  the  plain ; 
And  louder,  louder,  louder  cracked  the  black  gunpowder, 
Cracking  amain. 

**  Then  the  old-fashioned  colonel 
Galloped  through  the  white,  infernal 

Powder  cloud  \ 
And  his  broad  sword  was  swinging, 
And  his  brazen  throat  was  ringing 
Trumpet  loud. 
Then  the  blue 
Bullets  flew 
And  the  trooper  jackets  redden  at  the  touch  of  the  leaden 

Rifle  breath ; 
And  rounder,  rounder,  rounder  roared  the  iron  six  pounder 
Hurling  death  !  ** 

It  is  fortunate  that  the  success  of  the  patriot  cause  did 
not  depend  upon  the  genius  of  its  poets.  Still,  poor  as 
they  were,  their  songs  were  popular,  and  cheered  the 
hearts  of  the  yeomen,  who  won  at  last  in  spite  of  regular 
troops  and  irregular  verses. 

As  the  close  of  the  colonial  period  is  reached,  a  hack- 
ward  glance  over  the  dry  places  of  literature  through 
which  we  have  passed  has  its  compensations.     A  varying 


Writers  and  Speakers  of  the  Revolution     139 

progress  is  discernible  from  the  barrenness  of  a  diarizing 
age  through  the  narrowness  of  a  dogmatic  and  the  viru- 
lence of  controversial  and  polemic  periods  to  j^^^^^. 
the  broader  and  more  generous  sympathies  of  *p«*^**^«* 
outer-world  ideas,  and  at  length  into  a  higher  sphere  of 
independence  in  political  thought  and  its  expression. 
Crudeness  and  affectation,  pedantry  and  contortion  had 
their  day,  and  finally  yielded  to  more  sensible  methods  in 
prose  and  the  beginning  of  a  true  poetic  spirit  in  verse. 
How  much  more  might  have  been  accomplished,  and  how 
much  earlier,  if  the  forefathers  had  not  persistently  turned 
their  backs  upon  contemporary  letters  in  England  and 
followed  homespun  patterns  with  exclusive  devotion,  is  a 
question  which  may  be  discussed  elsewhere  but  for  which 
there  is  no  room  here.  No  one  is  more  willing  than  the 
present  writer  to  grant  all  that  can  be  claimed  for  the 
foundation  work  which  was  done  by  the  Pilgrims  and 
Puritans  and  their  successors  in  the  colonial  period  in  the 
direction  of  political  righteousness,  notwithstanding  their 
backward  look  to  the  Pentateuch  for  their  methods  of 
administration.  But  founding  an  empire  or  a  republic  is 
not  making  a  literature.  If  it  is  objected  that  they  were 
too  busy  about  the  one  to  attend  to  the  other,  it  may  be 
answered  that  ministers  and  magistrates  and  others  found 
leisure  to  write  volumes  of  literature,  such  as  it  was.  Ac- 
cordingly it  is  impossible  to  agree  with  those  writers  who 
have  discovered  great  achievement  in  what  the  colonists 
wrote  for  the  first  hundred  and  fifty  years,  since,  measured 
by  the  standard  of  contemporary  English  writings,  the 
disparity  between  the  two  is  painfully  apparent.  If  it  be 
urged  that  the  colonists  were  removed  from  English  influ- 
ences by  the  width  of  the  Atlantic,  it  must  be  admitted 


140  American  Literature 

that  ships  came  across  in  from  three  to  six  weeks,  bring- 
ing up-to-date  fashions  and  fabrics,  and  the  best  of  teas, 
spices,  and  wines.  Invoices  show  that  books  also  came 
with  other  luxuries,  but  not  the  books  which  were  read 
in  England  then  that  are  called  classic  now.  Instead, 
as  booksellers*  inventories  and  lists  of  academic  and 
private  libraries  reveal,  importations  were  chiefly  of 
dreary  tomes  of  sectarian  theology,  largely  in  Latin,  and 
such  other  treatises  and  tracts  as  may  be  found,  for  in- 
stance, in  the  library  catalogue  of  the  younger  Winthrop, 
a  representative  man  of  letters  in  his  day.  Such  books 
as  people  read  they  wrote,  often  incorporating  an  Hebraic 
element  paralleled  by  the  Israelitish  names  of  their  sons 
and  daughters  for  three  generations,  and  entailed  for  three 
more.  These  domestic  products  were  read  and  imitated 
more  even  than  the  transatlantic  volumes  they  imported, 
and  at  one  time  literary  manner  went  from  bad  to  worse. 
When  Franklin  broke  with  the  tradition  of  the  elders  — 
the  first  man  of  letters  to  deserve  the  name,  foremost 
also  in  science  and  the  higher  politics,  he  opened  the 
door  to  contemporary  English  literature.  The  beginnings 
of  a  creditable  American  literature  were  to  follow  with  the 
independence  of  the  nation,  though  not  by  boastful  revolt 
from  English  models,  nor  again  by  servile  imitation  of 
them.  These  inevitable  elements,  however,  were  to  dis- 
appear with  the  growth  of  a  cosmopolitan  spirit  and  a 
larger  hospitality  towards  outland  literatures.  It  is 
by  reviewing  these  later  achievements  rather  than  those 
of  provincial  centuries  that  better  reasons  for  complacency 
will  be  discovered. 


The  National   Period 

1783— 1902 


"  The  time  will  arrive  when  the  Americans  as  a  people  wiU  take 
pride  in  a  literature  of  their  ovm^  and  realize  that  a  National  Liter- 
ature is  a  National  Power.^^ 

William  I.  Paulding. 


XIII 

POLITICAL  WRITERS  OF  THE  CRITICAL  PERIOD 

Eeaders  who  have  followed  the  growth  of  American 
letters  in  chapters  on  the  colonial  period  should  know 
that  what  was  written  between  1607  and  1783 

R€sum6. 

was  m  a  sense  preparatory  to  the  later  devel- 
opment of  our  literature.  It  began  with  the  "  advertise- 
ments" of  settlers  at  Jamestown  and  Plymouth  to  the 
countrymen  they  had  left  behind  in  England  with  a  view 
to  induce  further  immigration.  Diaries  and  journals  and 
annals  of  colonial  life  followed,  furnishing  the  materials 
for  future  histories.  A  theocratic  form  of  government 
next  inspired  a  theological  literature  full  of  controversy, 
which  was  succeeded  by  political  writings  of  marked 
vigor  and  abihty  as  the  question  of  separation  from 
Great  Britain  came  to  the  front.  Interspersed  with  these 
prose  writings  was  a  by-product  of  verse,  in  psalms,  eulo- 
gies, and  dirges  at  first,  and  finally  in  patriotic  or  loyalist 
ballads.  In  both  prose  and  verse  styles  of  diction  pre- 
vailed which  were  sometimes  Hebraic  and  sometimes 
fantastic,  but  commonly  artificial,  except  when  in  the 
later  years  strong  emotions  made  writers  forget  them- 
selves and  the  fashion  of  their  age.  This  was  particularly 
the  case  in  the  revolution  period,  when  fiery  pamphleteer- 
ing cleared  the  air  of  nonsense  and  taught  men  to  say 
what  they  meant.     Even  then  there  was  at  times  some  of 

143 


144  American  Literature 

the  stateliness  of  colonial  manners  and  the  gorgeousness 
of  the  continental  costume  in  deliberate  writing. 

There  was  no  immediate  change  in  literary  habits  when 
the  independence  of  the  colonies  was  established  in  1783. 
Transition  ^  peoplc  could  not  adjust  thcmsclves  to  a  new 
Gradual.  condition  6f  liberty  in  a  day  or  year  after  their 
life  of  a  century  and  three-quarters  as  subject  provinces. 
Neither  could  they  get  out  of  the  ruts  of  thought  and 
expression  in  which  they  had  been  brought  up.  More- 
over, in  the  live  years  succeeding  the  end  of  the  war  there 
were  causes  which  continued  to  literature  the  complexion 
it  had  during  the  war.  If  it  was  controversial  then,  when 
the  majority  were  for  freedom  from  British  rule,  what 
could  be  expected  when  opinion  was  much  divided  about 
the  form  of  government  that  should  be  adopted  ?  Indeed, 
opposition  and  disputation  had  become  chronic.  The 
Declaration  of  Independence  was  passed  with  difficulty ; 
the  war  was  prolonged  by  dissent  and  disagreement,  and 
now  the  plan  of  union  was  to  be  five  years  in  getting 
itself  adjusted  to  provincial  notions. 

This  process  made  a  continuation  of  political  literature 
inevitable.  Men  who  eight  years  before  dropped  their 
pens  and  picked  up  swords  now  hung  these  over  the  fire- 
place and  returned  to  their  desks.  Many  who  had  in 
these  years  of  fighting  kept  up  a  wordy  war  protracted 
it  until  the  Constitution  was  adopted,  believing  that  the 
fruit  of  all  the  sacrifice  made  would  be  lost  with  the 
rejection  of  their  own  theories  of  government.  Hence 
followed  a  new  instalment  of  political  literature  whose 
importance  in  tiding  the  new  nation  over  dangerous 
shoals  cannot  be  overestimated. 

The  men  who  contributed  to  it  were  principally  those 


Political  Writers  of  the  Critical  Period     145 

who  had  guided  the  war  to  its  successful  issue.  There 
was  enough  opposition  among  them  to  give  zest  and  point 
to  the  writings  of  all  in  discussing  the  ques-  pomicai 
tion  of  changing  the  confederacy  to  a  union  c°°*'"ov«"y' 
of  states.  The  leaders  in  this  great  debate  were  Samuel 
Adams,  Patrick  Henry,  and  Thomas  Jefferson  on  the  side 
of  the  established  government,  such  as  it  was,  which  had 
carried  on  the  war  after  its  own  fashion.  But  its  faults 
were  known.  The  perils  of  the  proposed  system  were  not 
known.  Henry  spoke  for  the  others  when  he  said :  "  This 
proposal  of  altering  our  federal  government  is  of  a  most 
alarming  nature ;  make  the  best  of  this  new  government 

—  say  it  is  composed  by  anything  but  inspiration  —  you 
ought  to  be  extremely  cautious,  watchful,  jealous  of  your 
liberty ;  for  instead  of  securing  your  rights  you  may  lose 
them  forever.  If  a  wrong  step  be  now  made,  the  republic 
may  be  lost  forever  .  .  .  and  tyranny  must  and  will 
arise."  The  views  of  Adams  and  Jefferson  were  similar, 
and  their  defence  of  them  constitutes  a  part  of  their 
works  and  of  the  best  literature  of  the  period. 

On  the  other  side  were  ranged  Alexander  Hamilton, 
John  Jay,  and  James  Madison  as  leaders  of  the  party 
for  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution.  With  ^^^ 
them  were  associated  George  Washington,  '*^^^^^^^^^" 
JTohn  Adams,  Fisher  Ames,  Thomas  Paine,  Albert  Gal- 
latin, John  Marshall,  and  Joseph  Story.     The  first  three 

—  Hamilton,  Jay,  and  Madison  —  made  the  "  Federalist " 

famous  as  the  leading  collection  of  political  writings  in 

this  long  and  violent  controversy.     The  Constitution  had 

been  called  a  "  triple-headed  monster  "  and  as  "  deep  and 

wicked  a  conspiracy  as  eve^  was  invented  in  the  darkest 

ages  against  the  liberties  of  a  free  people."     Evidently 

10 


146  American  Literature 

some  one  must  arise  to  its  defence  and  explanation. 
Hamilton  undertook  this,  with  the  help  of  Madison  and 
Jay,  in  eighty-five  short  essays,  published  in  the  "  Inde- 
pendent Gazetteer  of  New  York"  in  1787-8,  of  which 
Hamilton  himself  wrote  fifty-one.  They  did  for  the  adop- 
tion of  the  Constitution  what  Paine's  essays  did  for  the 
Declaration  of  Independence.  The  writers  did  not  have 
the  creation  of  literature  in  mind  so  much  as  of  a  new 
government.  Incidentally  they  accomplished  the  first 
while  laboring  with  all  their  might  for  the  second,  pro- 
ducing not  only  "  the  most  profound  and  suggestive  series 
of  papers  on  government  that  has  ever  been  written,"  but 
also  a  group  of  writings  which  reflect  the  spirit  of  liberty 
guided  and  controlled  by  the  wisest  law.  In  addition, 
the  collection  has  literary  values  which  cannot  be  over- 
looked. The  clearness  and  directness  of  the  opening 
article  declare  in  unmistakable  terms  the  purpose  of  the 
writer  and  the  importance  of  the  question  to  be  dis- 
cussed. They  recall  the  positiveness  of  the  Declaration 
of  Independence. 

"  After  an  unequivocal  experience  of  the  inefficacy  of  the  sub- 
sisting federal  government,  you  are  called  upon  to  deliberate  on 
a  new  Constitution  for  the  United  States  of  America.  The  sub- 
ject speaks  its  own  importance;  comprehending  in  its  conse- 
quences nothing  less  than  the  existence  of  the  union,  the  safety 
and  welfare  of  the  parts  of  which  it  is  composed,  the  fate  of 
an  empire  in  many  respects  the  most  interesting  in  the  world. 
It  has  been  frequently  remarked  that  it  seems  to  have  been 
reserved  to  the  people  of  this  country,  by  their  conduct  and 
example,  to  decide  the  important  question  whether  societies  of 
men  are  really  capable  or  not  of  establishing  good  government 
from  reflection  and  choice  or  whether  they  are  forever  destined 
to  depend  for  their  political  constitutions  on  accident  and  force. 


Political  Writers  of  the  Critical  Period      147 

The  crisis  at  which  we  are  arrived  may  with  propriety  be  re- 
garded as  the  era  in  which  that  decision  is  to  be  made ;  and  a 
wrong  election  of  the  part  we  shall  act,  may,  in  this  view,  de- 
serve to  be  considered  as  the  general .  misfortune  of  mankind. 
...  I  propose,  in  a  series  of  papers,  to  discuss  the  following 
interesting  particulars  —  The  utility  of  the  Union  to  your  politi- 
cal prosperity  —  The  insufficiency  of  the  present  Confederation 
to  preserve  that  Union  —  The  necessity  of  a  government,  at 
least  equally  energetic  with  the  one  proposed,  to  the  attainment 
of  this  object  —  The  conformity  of  the  proposed  Constitution  to 
the  true  principles  of  republican  government  —  Its  analogy  to 
your  own  State  Constitution  —  and  lastly  The  additional  se- 
curity which  its  adoption  will  afford  to  the  preservation  of 
that  species  of  government,  to  liberty,  and  to  property." 

After  this  outline  of  the  general  course  the  discussion 
would  take,  the  three  writers,  over  the  common  signature 
of  "  Publius,"  take  up  such  topics  as  the  "  Dangers  from 
foreign  force  and  influence ; "  "  The  Union  as  a  safeguard 
against  domestic  faction  and  insurrection ; "  "  The  Militia ;  '* 
"Taxation;"  "House  of  Eepresentatives ; "  "The  Execu- 
tive and  Judiciary;"  "Powers  vested  in  the  Union." 
These  and  other  matters  are  presented  fully,  sometimes  in 
several  papers,  and  so  clearly  that  the  citizen  of  that  day 
had  little  difficulty  in  understanding  the  writer's  grounds 
for  his  appeal,  an  appeal  which  in  the  end  was  effective 
beyond  the  immediate  constituency  addressed. 

The  man  who  could  write  the  above  Introduction  in  the 
cabin  of  a  river  sloop  had  his  subject  well  in  hand,  to  say 
the  least.  He  also  had  knowledge  of  the  times  sufficient 
to  recognize  that  the  period  was  a  critical  one  in  the  life 
of  the  nation,  and  that  imperialism  threatened  its  exist- 
ence on  one  side  and  anarchy  on  the  other.  His  own  aim 
was  to  call  men  away  from  the  separatism  and  individual- 


148  American  Literature 

ism  which  had  been  bred  in  and  in  from  colonial  begin- 
nings in  colonial  seclusion  and  exclusiveness,  now  cropping 
out  in  the  rights  which  each  new  state  desired  to  keep, 
surrendering  little  or  nothing  to  that  union  of  all  which 
alone  had  brought  them  through  recent  perils.  He  frankly 
admits  that  he  is  on  the  side  of  this  union,  a  view  of 
affairs  not  so  familiar  then  as  it  is  now,  and  regarded  by- 
many  with  doubt  and  suspicion.  They  considered  thir- 
teen states  along  the  coast  as  too  many  to  be  held 
together  or,  if  possible,  that  centralization  of  govern- 
ment would  end  in  imperialism.  Accordingly  Hamilton 
proposes  to  meet  their  objections  and  to  show  the  utility  of 
union,  the  insufficiency  of  the  present  confederation,  the 
necessity  of  a  stronger  government,  the  conformity  of  the 
Constitution  to  republican  principles,  the  additional  secur- 
ity it  will  afford  to  liberty  and  to  property,  and  the 
inevitable  dismemberment  that  would  follow  a  rejection 
of  the  proposed  Constitution. 

It  is  impracticable,  of  course,  to  review  the  discussion 
of  these  vital  topics  here  even  in  outline.  It  must  be 
read  to  appreciate  the  wisdom  of  its  views  and  the  dignity 
and  moderation  with  which  they  are  presented.  Much 
may  be  argued  for  the  good  sense  of  a  people  to  whom 
such  a  series  of  articles  could  be  addressed  with  the  ex- 
pectation that  they  would  be  carefully  read  and  thought- 
fully pondered.  That  they  were  so  received  is  evident 
from  their  continuation  through  eighty-five  numbers  and 
their  repeated  issue  in  edition  after  edition  when  they 
were  completed.  That  they  were  successful  in  their  pur- 
pose is  established  by  the  fact  that  the  particular  com- 
munity to  which  they  were  addressed  was  induced  to  do 
that  which  the  majority  had  informally  declared  it  would 


Political  Writers  of  the  Critical  Period      149 

not  do;  and  the  people  of  New  York,  accepting  this 
interpretation  of  the  Constitution  as  true,  determined  to 
favor  its  establishment  between  their  own  state  and  the 
other  states  of  the  Union.  The  "  Federalist "  had  a  similar 
efficacy  wherever  it  was  read.  The  men  who  wrote  it 
were  Americans  rather  than  provincials.  They  were 
statesmen  and  foremost  thinkers  in  a  time  which  called 
for  profound  and  earnest  reflection  on  questions  of  im- 
mense consequence.  Other  papers  were  written  by  their 
peers  in  other  journals,  but  this  collection  is  preeminent 
among  them  all.  It  marked  the  culmination  of  political 
writing  in  an  age  of  the  highest  political  thought  and 
action.  It  was  the  work  of  the  giants  which  were  in 
those  days,  who  were  also  framers  of  the  Constitution 
itself. 

Accordingly,  it  has  seemed  imperative  to  call  particular 
attention  to  a  production  which  is  sometimes  spoken  of 
as  a  series  of  newspaper  articles,  or  as  a  partisan  view 
of  a  question  that  has  long  since  been  settled.  That 
these  articles  were  not  ephemeral  is  shown  by  their  re- 
peated reproduction  to  the  present  day  in  twenty  editions. 
That  they  are  something  more  than  a  Whig  document  is 
evidenced  by  the  fact  that  they  are  the  best  interpreters-  of 
the  intents  and  purposes  which  the  builders  of  the  nation 
had  when  they  framed  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States.  This  instrument  itself  cannot  be  well  understood 
without  the  contemporary  commentary  of  the  "  Federalist.'* 

Keference  has  already  been  made  to  the  writings  of  the 
group  of  statesmen  who  were  both  the  product  of  this 
critical  period  and  the  agents  in  bringing  it  other  Pout- 
about.     They  were  as  a  rule  voluminous  writ-  **^*^  wnters. 
ers.    When  the  few  books  which  were  at  their  command 


150  American  Literature 

are  considered,  as  compared  with  present  accumulations, 
their  creative  resources  are  remarkable.  They  pondered 
diligently  and  wrote  continuously.  As  a  consequence 
their  works  fill  volumes.  These  have  not  been  perused 
or  often  consulted  by  the  average  reader  in  the  latter  part 
of  the  century  following  their  production  as  they  were  in 
the  former,  but,  with  the  revival  of  interest  in  American 
history  and  literature,  and  the  growing  habit  of  investi- 
gating original  documents  and  writings,  the  worth  of  them 
will  be  rediscovered.  Especially  to  those  who  incline  to 
a  study  of  the  highest  political  science  and  the  nature  of 
republican  forms  of  government  will  these  writings  of  the 
founders  of  our  own  be  a  literature  in  which  they  may 
take  both  delight  and  pride.  It  was  this  which  first  won'- 
attention  to  us  in  other  countries.  In  England,  because 
the  loss  of  colonies  was  impending ;  on  the  continent  of 
Europe,  because  of  a  widespread  sympathy  with  the  cause 
which  was  so  clearly  stated  and  ably  defended.  The  new 
nation  had  not  yet  attained  to  the  graces  of  literature, 
but  the  strength  and  vigor  which  ought  to  precede  these 
were  abundant.  The  foundations  of  empire  and  of  letters 
were  laid  simultaneously  by  Franklin  and  Adams  and 
Otis,  by  Jefferson  and  Henry  and  Hamilton,  by  John 
Adams  and  Quincy  Adams,  by  Paine  and  Marshall,  and 
the  rest  of  the  constellation  of  publicists  which  ruled  in 
the  ascendant  at  the  birth  of  the  nation.  To  them  the 
student  of  constitutional  history  will  turn  as  to  the  authors 
of  the  best  of  constitutions,  and  the  student  of  letters  as 
to  writers  of  a  literature  political  in  its  character,  but 
as  diversified  in  its  form  as  the  personality  of  its  makers. 

As  in  a  former  chapter  on  some  of  the  pre-revolution 
writers,  it  may  be  added  that  the  works  of  the  above- 


Political  Writers  of  the  Critical  Period      151 

mentioned  statesmen  are  accessible  in  most  public  libraries 
in  one  or  more  editions.  Tables  of  contents  and  indexes 
will  refer  readers  to  such  topics  as  may  be  of  particular 
interest.  Biographical  accounts  are  abundant  in  the  vol- 
umes of  the  American  Statesmen  series  and  elsewhere. 


XIV 

EPICS  AND  DRAMAS 

The  writings  of  statesmen  in  the  closing  period  of  the 
eighteenth  century  were  not  equalled  by  other  contempo- 
rary literature.  There  was  no  such  absorbing  motive  in 
other  departments  to  give  the  unconsciousness  of  self  in 
which  best  results  are  produced.  Few  periods  have  had 
such  an  overpowering  stimulus  to  intense  yet  logical  ex- 
position of  privileges  which  are  essential  to  constitutional 
liberty.  The  literature  which  resulted  ought  to  have 
been  and  was  exceptional  prose. 

The  verse  which  accompanied  it  was  exceptional  too,  but 
not  in  the  same  way.  All  ballads  were  of  course  inspired 
Trumbull's  ^J  patriotic  or  loyalist  sentiments.  Even  when 
"McFingai."  j^j^^^  Trumbull's  long  poem,  "McFingal,"  ap- 
peared it  could  be  referred  to  the  same  kind  of  inspira- 
tion. Still,  the  channel  in  which  the  patriotism  of  the 
youthful  verse-maker  flowed  was  inevitably  narrowed  by 
its  prevailing  satire.  This  was  effective,  as  no  one  can 
deny,  and  by  its  mirth-provoking  sallies  did  good  service 
for  a  good  cause.  It  is  not  to  so  much  purpose  to  inquire 
here  who  furnished  the  copy  which  he  followed  with 
greater  or  less  fidelity  —  whether  Hudibras,  Combe,  or 
some  other  —  as  to  know  that  the  help  furnished  was 
not  after  the  manner  nor  in  the  degree  of  the  aid  lent 
by  the  political  prose  of  the  day.  A  few  lines  of  it  will 
give  the  pitch  and  tone,  rhyme  and  metre. 

152 


Epics  and  Dramas  153 

"  Great    Squire   McFingal,"    the    Tory   magistrate,    is 
started  in  this  manner : 

"  His  high  descent  our  heralds  trace 
To  Ossian's  famed  Fingahan  race. 
For  though  their  name  some  part  may  lack 
Old  Fingal  spelt  it  with  a  Mac ; 
Which  great  McPherson,  with  submission 
We  hope  will  add,  the  next  edition. 
His  fathers  flourished  in  the  Highlands 
Of  Scotia's  fog-benighted  islands ; 
Whence  gained  our  Squire  two  gifts  by  right, 
RebelHon  and  the  Second-sight. 
Thus  stored  with  intellectual  riches, 
Skilled  was  our  Squire  in  making  speeches, 
Where  strength  of  brain  united  centers 
With  strength  of  lungs  surpassing  Stentor's." 

These  gifts  he  exercises  at  the  gathering  place  of  the 
clans  —  the  meeting-house  and  in  town-meeting. 

"  And  now  the  town  was  summoned  greeting, 
To  grand  parading  of  town-meeting  ; 
To  show  that  strangers  might  appall. 
As  Rome's  grave  senate  did  the  Gaul. 
High  o'er  the  rout,  on  pulpit  stairs. 
Like  den  of  thieves  in  house  of  prayers, 
(That  house,  which  loth  a  rule  to  break, 
Serv'd  heav'n  but  one  day  in  a  week, 
Open  the  rest  for  all  supplies 
Of  news  and  politics  and  lies.) 
Stood  forth  the  constable  and  bore 
His  staff,  like  Mercery's  wand  of  yore, 
Wav'd  potent  round,  the  peace  to  keep. 
As  that  laid  dead  men's  souls  to  sleep. 
Above  and  near  the  hermitic  staflT, 
The  moderator's  upper  half. 
In  grandeur  o'er  the  cushion  bow'd, 
Like  Sol  half-seen  behind  a  cloud. 
Beneath  stood  voters  of  all  colours, 
Whigs,  Tories,  orators  and  bawlers, 


154  American  Literature 

With  ev'ry  tongue  in  either  faction, 
Prepar'd,  like  minute-men,  for  action ; 
Where  truth  and  falsehood,  wrong  and  right, 
Drew  all  their  legions  out  to  fight ; 
With  equal  uproar,  scarcely  rave, 
Opposing  winds  in  Coins'  cave. 
Such  dialogues  with  earnest  face 
Held  never  Balaam  with  his  ass." 

As  the  debate  gets  high 

"...  our  Squire 
No  longer  could  contain  his  ire  ; 
And  rising  'midst  applauding  Tories, 
Thus  vented  wrath  upon  Honorius. 

"  Quoth  he,  '  'T  is  wondrous  what  strange  stuff 
Your  Whig's-heads  are  compounded  of  ; 
Which  force  of  logic  cannot  pierce 
Nor  syllogistic  carte  and  tierce, 
Nor  weight  of  scripture  or  of  reason, 
Suffice  to  make  the  least  impression. 
Ye  prate  and  beg  and  steal  the  question ; 
And  when  your  boasted  arguings  fail, 
Strait  leave  all  reas'ning  off,  to  rail. 

" '  About  Rebellion  make  a  pother, 
From  one  end  of  the  land  to  th'  other, 
And  yet  gain'd  fewer  pros'lyte  Whigs, 
Than  old  St.  Anth'ny  'mongst  the  pigs ; 
And  chang'd  not  half  so  many  vicious 
As  Austin,  when  he  preach'd  to  fishes ; 
Who,  throng'd  to  hear,  the  legend  tells, 
Were  edified  and  wagg'd  their  tails  ; 
But  scarce  you'd  prove  it,  if  you  tried, 
That  e'er  one  Whig  was  edified.'  " 

In  this  style  the  valiant  Squire  storms  on  for  three 
hundred  lines  with  interruptions  enough  from  the  Whig 
Honorius  to  keep  his  eloquence  at  concert  pitch, 

**  In  true  sublime  of  scarecrow  style." 


Epics  and  Dramas  155 

Indeed  this  line  of  the  poet's  might  be  applied  to  much 
of  his  amusing  and  truly  patriotic  effusion,  had  not  his 
friend  President  D wight  assured  the  public  that  "  without 
any  partiality,  McFingal  is  not  inferior  in  wit  and  humor 
to  Hudibras ;  and  in  every  other  respect  is  superior.  .  .  . 
The  versification  is  far  better,  the  poetry  is  in  several 
instances  in  a  good  degree  elegant,  and  in  some  even  sub- 
lime." The  question  between  contemporary  commenda- 
tion and  criticism  and  that  of  the  present  day  is  as  to  the 
kind  of  subhmity,  and  if  it  is  at  all  like  that  which  the 
poet  attributed  to  Judge  Sewall  in  the  line  last  quoted. 
It  should  not  be  forgotten,  however,  that  these  Yale  men, 
Trumbull,  Dwight,  Barlow,  and  the  rest,  were  the  first  to 
give  a  fresh  impulse  to  the  literature  of  the  new  nation, 
and  if  their  ambition  outran  their  performance  it  was  a 
commendable  quality,  even  if  the  levels  in  wliich  it  ran 
were  sometimes  too  high  or  too  low. 

Nothing  but  the  controversy  which  had  its  participants 
on  both  sides,  in  England  as  well  as  in  America,  could 
have  carried  this  mock  heroic  performance  through  several 
editions.  Besides,  the  literary  taste  of  the  time  in  poetics 
was  not  far  above  this  plane.  We  can  be  grateful  to  the 
author  for  winning  supporters  whom  statesmen  could  not ; 
but  it  is  not  necessary  on  this  account  to  call  him  an  emi- 
nent poet. 

However,  he  did  not  aspire  to  write  an  epic,  as  two  of 
his  contemporaries  did.  But  they  had  their  sense  of  obli- 
gation as  citizens  and  men  of  letters  in  the  young  America 
that  had  just  been  released  from  old  England.  A  new 
and  free  nation  of  almost  boundless  expanse,  with  limit- 
less prospects  and  high  hopes,  it  was  urged,  should  have 
a  commensurate  literature,  or  the  beginning  of  it,  at  least. 


156  American  Literature 

A  patriotic  aspiration  of  this  kind  must  have  impelled 

Timothy  Dwight,  president  of  Yale  College,  to  undertake, 

in  1785,  his  "Conquest  of  Canaan,"  the  first 

Dwight's  .  . 

"Conquest of  American  epic,  as  the   author  calls  it.     The 

Canaan." 

resemblance  it  bears  to  those  which  had  pre- 
ceded it,  notably  the  "  Iliad "  and  "  Paradise  Lost,"  con- 
sists largely  in  the  antiquity  of  the  subject.  Differences 
must  be  explained  by  saying  that  Homer,  and  Virgil,  and 
Milton  were  bom  to  be  poets,  as  the  American  was  born 
to  be  a  college  president  and  a  diligent  and  persevering 
versifier.  Genius  is  not  always  the  faculty  of  taking 
pains.  If  it  were,  the  "  Conquest  of  Canaan  "  would  not 
practically  have  perished  in  a  hundred  years.  Neverthe- 
less it  is  worth  reading  —  some  of  it.  Biblical  students 
will  be  pleased  to  note  what  side  lights  can  be  thrown 
upon  the  sacred  story  by  a  poetic  imagination,  if  they  read 
as  far  as  the  eleventh  book.  The  crookedness  of  Hanniel, 
the  loves  of  Irad  and  Selima,  of  Elam  and  Mina,  the  ghost 
of  Herzon,  the  prowess  of  Jabin,  the  valor  of  Zimri,  are 
for  the  modern  reader  what  the  miracle  and  mystery  plays 
were  to  the  dark  ages.  Modern  battlefields  and  revolu- 
tionary generals  are  somewhat  belated  actors,  but  the 
heroes  just  returned  from  Monmouth  and  Yorktown  did 
not  object  to  being  in  company  with  Caleb  and  Joshua. 
They  read  their  Bibles  as  diligently  as  their  descendants 
peruse  a  Sunday  newspaper ;  and  they  understood  a  scrip- 
tural allusion  or  an  Old  Testament  hero  a  great  deal 
better.  And  as  for  the  versification,  the  rhymes  of 
Dwight  were  as  good  in  their  esteem  as  Pope's  translation 
of  the  "  Iliad,"  and  his  characters  not  inferior  to  Milton's 
in  their  biblical  derivation.  It  was  a  book  for  the  age  by 
a  counsellor  of  statesmen  and  a  theologian.    He,  if  any 


Epics  and  Dramas  157 

one,  could  meet  the  demands  of  the  youthful  nation  for 
an  epic  of  its  own,  as  he  had  been  the  first  to  give  it  the 
name  "Columbia."  Moreover,  a  note  of  progress  might 
be  discerned  from  one  to  the  other  of  three  epics,  and  a 
humanistic  element  could  be  found  in  the  "Conquest" 
which  was  not  in  the  "Iliad"  or  in  "Paradise  Lost." 
Even  the  oratory  of  the  Argive  leaders  or  that  of  Satan 
himself  is  at  least  recalled  by  Caleb's  address  to  the 
assembled  host: 

"  The  great  concluding  day 
Now  calls  to  arms,  and  heaven  directs  the  way ; 
What  though  unnumbered  hosts  against  us  rise, 
And  with  proud  madness  brave  insulted  skies  ; 
Shall  cumbrous  throngs  the  meanest  arm  dismay  ? 
Or  one  base  thought  disdain  the  glorious  day  ? 
Think  how  bold  Abraham  swept  the  midnight  plain, 
While  realms  opposed  and  millions  fought  in  vain. 
If  slaves,  or  men,  this  day  your  hands  decide, 
The  scorn  of  nations,  or  the  world's  great  pride ; 
Empire  and  bondage  in  your  bosoms  lie  ; 
*T  is  yours  to  triumph  or  't  is  ours  to  die." 

Our  great  and  greater  grandfathers  revelled  in  this,  and 
were  not  ashamed  to  liken  it  to  the  Homer  of  Pope  and  to 
the  verse  of  Milton.  In  the  battle  before  Ai,  Book  VI., 
the  poet's  historic  imagination  oscillates  between  Canaan 
and  Connecticut : 

"  The  hero  spoke ;  and  urged  by  passion's  force, 
On  furious  Carmi  bent  his  aged  course  ; 
Awful  in  gleam  of  arms,  the  chiefs  appear, 
Here  the  bold  youth,  the  white-haired  hero  there  : 
But  ere  his  sword  great  Herzon  could  extend, 
Or  circling  bands  their  ancient  chief  defend, 
A  long,  bright  lance  his  wary  foe  beheld. 
And  snatch'd  it  glittering  on  the  bloody  field  ; 


158  American  Literature 

Swift  through  the  hero's  side  he  forced  the  steel ; 
Pierced  to  the  heart,  the  aged  warrior  fell ; 
There  lay,  a  corse,  bespread  with  purple  stains, 
The  form,  that  triumphed  on  a  hundred  plains. 

"  On  Ridgefield's  hills,  to  shame,  to  virtue  dead. 
Thus  dastard  bands  the  foe  inglorious  fled ; 
When  Wooster  singly  braved  the  deathful  ground, 
Fir'd  hosts  in  vain  and  met  the  fatal  wound. 
In  dangers  born,  to  arms  in  childhood  train'd. 
From  Gallia's  heroes  many  a  palm  he  gain'd 
With  freedom's  sacred  name  serenely  glow'd 
For  justice  arm'd,  and  fought  the  field  for  God." 

This  is  Homeric,  Hebraic,  and  patriotic,  and  therefore 
was  poetic  to  our  forefathers.  So  was  the  following  from 
Book  VII. : 

"  So  frowned  dread  night  on  Abraham's  fatal  plain 
When  thou,  Montgomery,  pride  of  chiefs,  was  slain. 
Spare,  sons  of  freedom,  spare  that  generous  tear ; 
To  heaven  resign,  nor  name  the  doom  severe. 
Great,  brave,  and  just  to  ward  Columbia's  shame, 
He  hunted  toil  in  fields  of  growing  fame  ; 
Ahve,  fair  Victory  ne'er  forsook  his  side  ; 
He  lived  in  triumph  and  in  glory  died. 
Glued  to  his  side,  t'  untimely  fate  a  prey. 
There  bright  Macpherson  breath'd  his  life  away." 

The    climax   or   anti-climax   was   reached   when   Joel 
Barlow  wrote   his  "Vision  of  Columbus,"  afterward  de- 
veloped into  the  "  Columbiad."     The  very  title 
"  Vision  of      was  sublimated  American,  and  the  poem  was 

Columbus." 

regarded  as  a  "  tremendous  epic"  in  its  day. 
With  mitigated  modesty  the  writer  declares  that  he  shall 
not  try  to  prove  that  he  has  written  an  epic  poem. 
Nevertheless  he  ranks  the  "  Iliad "  and  the  "  ^neid"  in 
the  same  class  with  his  own  "Columbiad,"  which  he 
sends  forth  "  with  no   other  concern   than  what  arises 


Epics  and  Dramas  159 

from  the  most  pure  and  ardent  desire  of  doing  good  to 
the  country." 

Barlow  was  a  type  of  the  cultivated  and  patriotic  young 
American  of  his  day.  He  belonged  to  the  Dwight-Trum- 
bull  knot  of  young  men  in  Yale  College  who  were  the 
first  in  the  country  to  break  away  from  the  traditions  of 
the  elders  and  devote  themselves  to  a  study  of  outland 
literature  in  the  English  classics.  In  vacations  he  shoul- 
dered a  musket  and  fought  bravely  with  the  Massachusetts 
militia  in  the  opening  battles  of  the  Kevolution.  His  Com- 
mencement part  in  1778  was  a  poem  on  "  The  Prospect  of 
Peace,"  hopeful,  enthusiastic,  expansive,  prophetic : 

"  What  wide  extent  her  waving  ensigns  claim, 
Lands  yet  unknown  and  streams  without  a  name." 

As  there  was  a  shortage  of  chaplains  in  the  army,  the 
young  law  student  crammed  himself  with  enough  divinity 
in  six  weeks  for  camp  purposes,  and  with  his  friend  Dwight 
went  in  and  out  among  the  troops,  animating  and  encour- 
aging them  by  patriotic  addresses  and  odes.  Turning 
editor  —  and  doctor  of  Watt's  version  of  the  psalms  to 
make  them  fit  the  regnant  theology  —  he  meditated  and 
composed  by  turns  "  The  Vision,"  which  was  received  with 
applause  by  friends  and  reprinted  in  London  and  Paris. 
It  anticipated  by  a  year  the  one-sided  philanthropy  and 
erratic  enthusiasm  of  the  French  Eevolution,  and  in  conse- 
quence the  author,  when  he  arrived  in  France,  was  wel- 
come to  give  his  "  Advice  to  Privileged  Orders,"  and  follow 
it  with  his  poem  on  the  "  Conspiracy  of  Kings." 

The  design  of  Barlow's  masterpiece,  "  The  Columbiad," 
evolved  from  "The  Vision,"  was  to  give  an  historical 
view  of  events  from  the  time  of  Columbus  to  that  of 


i6o  American  Literature 

Washington,  as  foreseen  by  the  great  discoverer  from  his 
prison  in  Spain.  Conducted  by  Hesper  to  the  Mount  of 
"TheCoium-  ^ision,  hc  takes  a  long  lesson  in  American 
geography  and  the  history  of  Mexico  and  Peru. 
The  story  of  colonization  by  Ealeigh  and  others  follows, 
preparing  the  way  for  the  old  French  and  theEevolu- 
tionary  wars.     Officers  in  the  latter  are  thus  signalized : 

"  Here  stood  stem  Putnam,  scored  with  ancient  scars, 
The  living  records  of  his  country's  wars  ; 
Wayne,  like  a  moving  tower,  assumes  his  post, 
Fires  the  whole  field  and  is  himself  a  host. 
Bland,  Moyland,  Sheldon,  the  long  lines  enforce 
With  light  arm'd  scouts,  with  solid  squares  of  horse. 
And  Knox  from  his  full  park  to  battle  brings 
His  brazen  tubes,  the  last  resort  of  kings. 
When  at  his  word  the  carbon  cloud  shall  rise 
And  well-aimed  thunders  rock  the  shores  and  skies." 

An  imagined  catastrophe  is  reached  at  Yorktown : 

"  But  while  the  fusing  fireballs  scorch  the  sky, 
Their  mining  arts  the  stanch  besiegers  ply, 
Delve  from  the  bank  of  York  and  gallery  far, 
Deep  subterranean,  to  the  mount  of  war  ; 
Beneath  the  ditch,  thro'  rocks  and  fens  they  go, 
Scoop  the  dark  chamber  plumb  beneath  the  foe  ; 
There  lodge  their  tons  of  powder  and  retire, 
Mure  the  dread  passage,  wave  the  fatal  fire. 
Send  a  swift  messenger  to  warn  the  foe 
To  seek  his  safety  and  the  post  forego." 

As  he  sends  back  a  taunting  reply  this  happens : 

**  Burst  with  the  blast  the  reeling  mountain  roars, 
Heaves,  labors,  boils  and  through  the  concave  pours 
His  flaming  contents  high ;  he  chokes  the  air 
With  all  his  warriors  and  their  works  of  war  j 
Guns,  bastions,  magazines,  confounded  fly. 
Vault  wide  their  fresh  explosions  o'er  the  sky, 
Incumber  each  far  camp  and  plow  profound 
With  their  rude  fragments  every  neighboring  ground. 


Epics  and  Dramas  i6i 

After  this  burst  it  is  not  strange  that  the  t)ig  guns  for 
coast  defence  were  called  Columbiads.  Indeed,  Barlow's 
theory  was  that  the  modern  epic  poet  had  an  advantage 
over  the  ancient  "  in  respect  to  the  names,  number  and 
variety  of  weapons  used  in  war;  and  that  the  shock  of 
modern  armies  is  more  sonorous  and  more  discoloring  to 
the  face  of  nature,"  and  he  exclaims,  "  What  might  not 
Homer  have  done  if  he  had  had  the  battle  of  Blenheim 
to  describe ! "  To  which  may  be  added.  What  might  not 
Barlow  have  done  armed  with  a  modern  dictionary  at  the 
battle  of  Gettysburg ! 

And  yet  when  he  is  giving  generous  praise  to  his  coterie 
he  descends  to  unstrained  diction : 

"  See  Trumbull  lead  the  train ;  his  skilful  hand 
Hurls  the  keen  darts  of  satire  round  the  land. 
Pride,  knavery,  dulness,  feel  his  mortal  stings, 
And  listening  virtue  triumphs  while  he  singg. 

**  On  wings  of  faith  to  elevate  the  soul, 
Beyond  the  bourn  of  earth's  benighted  pole, 
For  Dwight's  high  harp  the  Epic  Muse  sublime 
Hails  her  new  empire  in  the  western  clime.'* 

The  apotheosis  of  Progress  occurs  in  the  Apocalypse  of 
Barlow  to  Columbus  in  the  last  book : 

*^  From  Mohawk's  mouth,  far  westing  with  the  sun, 
Through  all  the  midlands  recent  channels  run, 
Tap  the  redundant  lakes,  the  broad  hills  brave, 
And  Hudson  marry  with  Missouri's  wave. 
From  dim  Superior,  whose  uncounted  sails 
Shade  his  full  seas  and  bosom  all  his  gales. 
New  paths  unfolding  seek  Mackenzie's  tide, 
And  towns  and  empires  rise  along  their  side. 
Slave's  crystal  highways  all  his  north  adorn 
Like  coruscations  from  the  boreal  mom." 

Of  this  tonitrous  composition  the  modern  reader  might 

weary  unless  he  should  get  interested  in  the  fortunes  of 

11 


1 62  American  Literature 

the  Peruvian  Inca,  Capac,  in  the  third  book.   By  that  time 
he  will  have  had  what  a  modern  essayist  calls  a  "  struggle 
with  those  merciful  tendencies  in  the  human  organization 
which  safely  wrap  the  overwhelmed  mind  in  the  blessed- 
ness of  sleep."     In  this  effort  to  keep  awake  he  will  be 
helped  now  and  then  by  such  startling  lines  as  these : 
'*  And  suns  infulminate  the  stormf  ul  sky ; " 
"  Commercing  squadrons  o'er  the  billows  bound ; " 
"  When  one  great  cosmogyre  has  proved  their  spheres ;  " 
and  other  such  lines,  which,  in  Barlow's  own  words  are : 
"  Like  coruscations  from  the  boreal  morn." 

Meantime  it  must  be  remembered  that  these  "  tonations  " 
were  composed  for  the  beginning-of-the-century  generation 
which  lived  a  hundred  years  ago.  The  measure  and  the 
rhyme  were  satisfactory,  and  the  big  word  stood  for  its 
idea  of  the  sublima  If  not  quite  comprehended,  the 
mystery  and  awe  were  all  the  greater,  and  so  were  the 
reputation  of  the  poet  and  the  sale  of  his  verse.  Still,  it  is 
to  be  feared  that  this  rhymer's  "  Hasty  Pudding,"  composed 
far  from  his  New  England  home,  in  Switzerland,  had  a 
longer  popularity  than  his  ambitious  epic. 

It  was  in  this  post-revolution  period  that  the  first  in- 
timation of  a  submerged  dramatic  tendency  bubbled  up 
RiseofAmer-  ^  ^^®  surface  from  the  ooze  where  it  was 
ican  Drama,  g^^^  ^^^  hundred  and  fifty  years  before.  Puri- 
tan laws  and  frowns  had  kept  it  out  of  sight  and  hearing 
thus  far.  Hospitable  Virginia  had  allowed  the  "  Merchant 
of  Venice  "  to  be  acted  by  professionals  in  Williamsburg 
as  early  as  1752,  and  Farquhar's  "Beaux's  Stratagem" 
was  played  the  same  year  at  Annapolis,  in  the  first 
/         American   theatre,   which   was   followed   by  a  second. 


Epics  and  Dramas  163 

built  in  New  York  the  next  year,  and  another  in  Phila- 
delphia six  years  later.  But  in  Massachusetts  previous  to 
1792  players  appeared  on  the  stage  at  the  risk  of  arrest. 
Only  in  unorthodox  Khode  Island,  and  under  the  patron- 
age of  planters  who  came  to  Newport,  were  they  safe 
within  the  bounds  of  New  England.  As  early  as  1765 
Thomas  Godfrey  of  Philadelphia  had  peeped  in  a  closet 
drama,  entitled,  "  The  Prince  of  Parthia,"  but  Koyall  Tyler 
of  New  York  was  the  first  domestic  play-writer  to  put  a 
piece  upon  the  stage.  He  called  it  "The  Contrast,"  possibly 
with  reference  to  the  change  in  public  sentiment  since 
Massachusetts  enacted  an  ordinance,  in  imitation  of 
Cromwell's  parliament  in  1642,  abolishing  theatres.  This 
act  was  annulled  in  England  fourteen  years  later,  but  here 
there  was  no  relenting  until  one  hundred  and  seventy 
years  after  the  Pilgrims  came  to  Plymouth.  Under  such 
a  regime  not  much  could  be  expected  of  American  dra- 
matic talent.  When  at  length  it  dared  to  appear  on  the 
boards  it  seemed  not  to  the  manner  born.  The  tragedy  was 
high  enough  and  the  comedy  low  enough,  but  the  Eliza-, 
bethan  dramatist,  or  even  the  Kestoration  playwright,  had 
not  accompanied  the  star  of  empire  westward.  Have  they 
yet  arrived? 

Still  there  were  home-made  plays  which  pleased  pro- 
vincials by  their  local  color  and  hits,  and  as  good  a 
beginning  was  made  as  could  be  expected  in  a  climate 
which  ranged  from  temperate  to  frigid  in  the  matter  of 
dramatics.  What  need  was  there  of  tragedy  representa- 
tion in  old  colony  days  when  the  genuine  article  could 
be  had  by  standing  in  front  of  the  meeting-house  near  the 
whipping-post,  stocks,  and  pillory,  or  by  climbing  the  hill 
where  the  gallows  loomed  stark  against  a  wintry  sky? 


/ 


164  American  Literature 

And  as  for  comedy,  it  might  be  had  -whenever  a  pirate 
crew  was  brought  ashore  or  a  knot  of  witches  convicted. 
The  Puritan  boy  was  not  without  his  diversions.  For  a 
while  he  had  no  need  of  theatre  or  circus.  When,  how- 
ever, his  primitive  entertainments  went  out  of  fashion  it 
was  unfair  to  expect  counterfeits  to  take  their  place  all  at 
once  or  to  be  satisfactory.  Had  not  everything  fictitious 
been  sternly  forbidden  and  painfully  discouraged?  Ac- 
cordingly, the  early  American  drama  should  not  be 
scrutinized  too  sharply  nor  expected  too  soon. 

Tyler,  Dunlap,  and  Payne  made  the  best  beginning  they 
could  with  such  plays  as  "  May  Day  in  New  York,"  "  The 
Father  of  an  Only  Child,"  "  Brutus,"  and  "  Therese,"  all  of 
which  were  appreciated  at  home  and  some  in  London. 
Dunlap's  interlude  of  "Danby's  Keturn"  drew  unaccus- 
tomed laughter  from  the  grave  Washington  and  sym- 
pathetic merriment  from  all  who  were  watching  to  see 
how  he  would  take  an  allusion  to  himself.  But  no  one 
unearths  these  old  provincial  tragedies  and  comedies  for 
present  reading,  and  a  company  which  should  venture  to 
reproduce  them  would  not  undertake  their  repetition  a 
second  night.  Their  flavor  is  gone  with  the  generation 
for  which  they  were  written. 


XV 

EARLY  FICTION 

Fiction  followed  the  drama  in  America,  as  elsewhere. 
Also,  as  in  the  case  of  the  drama,  its  beginnings  were 
feeble. 

Susanna  Haswell  came  to  Nantasket,  Massachusetts,  as 
a  child  with  her  father,  a  British  naval  officer,  in  1766. 
Inclined  to  literary  pursuits,  she  was  encour-  susanna 
aged  by  James  Otis  and  others,  and  in  1786  ^°"^'°°- 
wrote  "Victoria,"  a  two-volume  story  from  real  life,  marry- 
ing the  same  year  WilUam  Eowson  of  London,  trumpeter 
in  the  Horse  Guards.  Two  years  after,  she  published 
"The  Inquisitor,"  a  three-decker  in  the  manuer  of  Lau- 
rence Sterne,  and  returned  to  England.  There,  in  1790, 
she  issued  "  Charlotte  Temple,  a  Tale  of  Truth,"  and  came 
back  to  the  United  States  three  years  afterward.  It  is 
the  last  story,  reissued  here  in  1794,  and  sometimes  called 
the  first  American  novel,  that  has  survived  the  earlier.  It 
was  as  little  a  creation  of  the  imagination  as  were  the 
names  of  the  principal  characters,  Charlotte  Temple  being 
Charlotte  Stanley,  and  John  MontraviUe  being  John 
Montressor.  But  the  book  was  a  great  success  in  its  day. 
Twenty-five  hundred  copies  were  sold  within  a  few 
years.  Its  popularity  was  long-lived,  and  as  late  as  1892 
it  was  republished  in  paper  covers  and  entered  as  "  second- 
class  matter"  at  the  New  York  postoffice  with  an  irony 
that  was  presumably  unconscious.    However,  it  was  not 

165 


1 66  American  Literature 

considered  second-class  one  hundred  and  ten  years  ago, 
when  our  grandmothers  sighed  and  wept  over  it.  The 
plot  is  simple  and  the  story  as  old  as  the  captivating 
fascination  of  brass  buttons  and  epaulettes.  A  British 
officer,  bound  for  the  American  war,  entices  a  schoolgirl 
to  share  his  fortunes.  She  trusts  in  the  usual  vows  of 
fidelity.  Both  belonged  to  the  nobility.  That  was  the 
English  side  of  the  story.  The  American  was  the  cus- 
tomary sequence  of  desertion,  disgrace,  and  death ;  all  of 
it  told  in  a  style  that  never  was  on  land  or  sea,  except  in 
an  eighteenth  century  novel. 

"  *  Where  is  Charlotte  1 '  said  he.  *  Why  does  not  my  child 
come  to  welcome  her  doting  parent  ? ' 

"  *  Be  composed,  my  dear  sir,'  said  Mme.  Du  Pont.  *  Do  not 
frighten  yourself  unnecessarily.  She  is  not  in  the  house  at 
present,  but,  as  mademoiselle  is  undoubtedly  with  her,  she  will 
speedily  return  in  safety  and  I  hope  they  will  both  be  able  to 
account  for  this  unseasonable  absence  in  such  a  manner  as  shall 
remove  our  present  uneasiness.* 

"  *  Madame,'  cried  the  old  man  with  an  angry  look,  *  has  my 
child  been  accustomed  to  go  out  without  leave,  with  no  other 
company  or  protection  than  that  Frenchwoman?  Pardon  me, 
madame,  I  mean  no  reflections  on  your  country,  but  I  never  did 
like  Madame  La  Eue ;  I  think  she  is  a  very  improper  person 
to  be  intrusted  with  the  care  of  such  a  girl  as  Charlotte  Temple, 
or  to  be  suffered  to  take  her  from  under  your  immediate 
protection.' 

"  *  You  wrong  me,  Mr.  Eldridge,*  said  she,  *  if  you  suppose  I 
have  ever  permitted  your  grand-daughter  to  go  out,  unless  with 
other  ladies.  I  would  to  Heaven  I  could  form  any  probable 
conjecture  concerning  her  absence  this  morning,  but  it  is  a 
mystery  to  me,  which  her  return  can  alone  unravel.* 

"As  Madame  Du  Pont  read  these  cruel  lines,  she  turned 
pale  as  ashes,  her  limbs  trembled,  and  she  was  forced  to  call  for 


Early  Fiction  167 

a  glass  of  water.  She  loved  Charlotte  truly ;  and  when  she 
reflected  on  the  innocence  and  gentleness  of  her  disposition,  she 
concluded  that  it  must  have  been  the  advice  and  machinations  of 
La  Rue  which  led  her  to  this  imprudent  action. 

"  The  whole  truth  now  rushed  in  at  once  upon  Mr.  Eldridge*s 
mind.  A  violent  gush  of  grief  in  some  measure  relieved  him, 
and  after  several  vain  attempts  he  at  length  assumed  sufficient 
composure  to  read  the  note." 

And  so  on  through  thirty-five  chapters,  each  interlocu- 
tor waiting  his  turn  and  adjusting  himself,  his  pose, 
vocabulary,  and  punctuation  to  stage  effects  of  melo- 
dramatic intensity.  It  was  the  theatrical  age  of  fiction. 
People  who  were  at  home  reading  a  novel  instead  of  going 
to  the  play  demanded  that  it  be  illumined  by  footlights 
and  be  enlivened  by  something  of  the  rant  they  had  lately 
heard  on  the  boards.  Hence  much  of  ceremonious  and 
unnatural  orotundity  and  chapters  headed :  "  Which 
people  void  of  feeling  need  not  read,"  meaning,  "  If  you 
have  tears  to  shed,  prepare  to  shed  them  now."  This  was 
taken  as  a  stage  direction  by  readers  and  complied  with 
to  the  letter.     They  sighed  and  wept  to  order. 

It  should  be  said  in  parenthesis  that  this  sentimentality 
struck  Mrs.  Tabitha  Tenny  years  afterward  very  much  as 
Richardson's  "  Pamela  "  affected  Fielding,  and  she  followed 
the  tearful  novelist  afar  with  a  counter-irritant  entitled 
"  Female  Quixotism  :  Exhibited  in  the  Romantic  Opinions 
and  Extravagant  Adventures  of  Dorcasina  Sheldon,"  a 
young  woman  whose  devotion  to  trashy  novels  determines 
her  to  become  some  sort  of  a  heroine.  Her  first  step  is  tck 
refuse  a  desirable  suitor,  after  whom  follow  several  unde- 
sirable ones  and  adventures  more  ridiculous  than  romantic. 


1 68  American  Literature 

Eescued  from  sacrificing  herself  and  her  fortune  to  a  serv- 
mg  man,  she  finally  has  an  attack  of  common  sense,  which 
lasts  through  the  remainder  of  her  life. 

Mrs.  Eowson  found  that  the  demand  for  lachrymose 
novels  was  not  greatly  diminished  by  this  antidote,  espe- 
cially if  reheved  by  plays,  songs,  tales,  and  even  the  school 
books  which  she  continued  to  write  until  her  demise  in 
Boston  in  1824. 

Two  men  took  up  the  new  literary  trade  almost  simul- 
taneously, Henry  Hugh  Brackenridge  getting  the  start  of 
Bracken-  Charlcs  Brockdcn  Brown  by  a  year  only  in  his 
ndge.  „  Modem  Chivalry."     A  graduate  of  Princeton 

in  the  class  with  James  Madison  and  Philip  Freneau,  it  is 
not  strange  that  the  young  lawyer  entered  into  the  arena  of 
politics  early  and  took  his  literary  capability  with  him  as 
an  assistant.  The  experiences  he  passed  through  in  the 
whisky  insurrection  of  1794  furnished  material  for  the 
above  story  with  the  sub-title  of  the  "  Adventures  of  Cap- 
tain Farrago  and  Teague  O'Eegan,  His  Servant,"  the  first 
part  being  published  at  Pittsburg  in  1796,  and  the  second 
ten  years  later.  Of  this  book  it  used  to  be  said  that  al- 
though the  fame  of  it  had  not  reached  Europe,  no  traveller 
in  the  West  by  the  name  of  Brackenridge  ever  failed  to 
be  asked  if  he  was  related  to  the  author  of  "Modern 
Chivalry."  If  he  happened  to  be,  hospitality  and  horses 
were  at  his  command.  The  story  smacked  of  border  life, 
if  it  did  not  have  the  odor  of  a  tavern  tumbler  about  it, 
since  the  writer  did  not  have  so  utter  an  abhorrence  of 
moonshiners  as  the  excisemen  did.  Altogether,  it  con- 
veyed a  useful  lesson  to  a  rough  and  raw  population  who 
had  just  acquired  the  new  and  dangerous  possession  of  free- 
dom and  were  handling  it  carelessly,  not  knowing  that  it 


Early  Fiction  169 

was  loaded.  Teague  O'Kegan,  Sancho  Panza  to  Captain 
Farrago,  has  as  great  difficulty  to  keep  out  of  office  as 
his  illustrious  prototype  had  to  get  in.  At  any  moment 
he  might  find  himself  a  member  of  a  philosophical  society, 
of  the  legislature,  or  an  association  of  clergymen.  Societies 
of  colonial  and  other  wars  had  not  then  been  established 
or  he  might  have  fared  stiU  worse.  At  length  he  has 
greatness  thrust  upon  him,  and  eventually  tar  and  feathers, 
as  collector  of  the  excise  among  the  whisky  stills  of  the 
Alleghanies.  By  all  of  which  it  may  be  observed  that 
politics  was  not  in  pulpits  alone,  but  in  literature  as  weU 
in  the  early  days  of  the  republic. 

Brockden  Brown's  novels  were  a  nearer  approach  to 
a  purely  literary  performance.  A  Philadelphia  youth  of 
studious  ways,  having  a  mind  divided  between  Brockden 
practical  views  and  an  eccentric  fancy,  he  aban-  ^'■°^°* 
doned  law  for  literature  and  became  the  first  in  this  country 
to  pursue  letters  as  a  profession.  Eecovering  speedily 
from  an  attack  of  the  epic  epidemic  then  prevailing,  he 
began  to  cultivate  fiction  —  pure  but  not  simple. 

It  was  his  misfortune  to  be  caught  in  New  York  in  the 
plague  year  of  1798,  when  the  yellow  fever  was  desolating 
the  city.  His  nearest  friend  was  taken,  but  he  was  left  to 
describe  the  horrors  of  the  pestilence  in  books  which  are 
yellow  with  fever  and  black  with  death.  Besides,  there 
is  in  them  a  large  accompaniment  of  the  preternatural  — 
ventriloquism,  somnambulism,  and  spiritism  —  uncanny 
agencies  to  have  in  the  house,  but  convenient  in  a  novel, 
especially  when  plots  get  so  complicated  that  the  author 
cannot  recall  every  knot  that  he  has  tied,  as  was  some- 
times the  case  with  this  one.  However,  a  writer  who 
produced  so  much  in  so  short  a  time   ought  not  to  be 


170  American  Literature 

taken  to  task  for  not  keeping  all  his  threads  straight  and 
well  in  hand.  Six  novels  in  three  years,  and  three  of 
them  in  one  year,  is  a  feat  to  justify  the  employment  of 
the  supernatural.  "Wieland"  in  1798,  "Ormond"  in 
1799,  "Arthur  Mervyn"  in  1800,  "Edgar  Huntley," 
"Clara  Howard,"  and  "Jane  Talbot"  in  1801  formed  a 
pyrotechnic  display  of  romance  worthy  to  celebrate  the 
going  out  of  the  eighteenth  century  and  the  coming  in  of. 
the  nineteenth.  Moreover,  there  was  no  lack  of  unearthly 
colors  in  this  flaming  apotheosis  of  life  and  death,  nor  of 
visible  and  invisible  hands  to  manage  the  catastrophe. 
Note  this  highlight  for  example : 

"  Death  seemed  to  hover  over  this  scene,  and  I  dreaded  that 
the  floating  pestilence  had  already  lighted  on  my  frame.  I 
approached  a  house  before  which  stood  a  hearse.  Presently  a 
coffin  borne  by  two  men  issued  from  the  house.  One  of  them, 
as  he  assisted  in  thrusting  the  coffin  into  the  cavity  provided  for 
it,  said  :  '  I'll  be  d — d  if  I  think  the  poor  dog  was  quite 
dead.  It  was  n't  the  fever  that  ailed  him,  but  the  sight  of  the 
girl  and  her  mother  on  the  floor.  It  was  n't  quite  right  to  put 
him  in  his  coffin  before  the  breath  was  fairly  gone.  I  thought 
the  last  look  he  gave  me  told  me  to  stay  a  few  minutes.* 

*'  *  Pshaw  !  He  could  not  live,'  said  the  other.  '  The  sooner 
dead  the  better  for  him,  as  well  as  for  us.  Did  you  mark  how 
he  eyed  us  when  we  carried  away  his  wife  and  daughter  ? ' " 

Here  is  another : 

^'  Welbeck  put  his  hands  to  his  head  and  exclaimed,  *  Curses 
on  thy  lips,  infernal  messenger !  Chant  elsewhere  thy  rueful 
ditty  !  Vanish !  if  thou  wouldst  not  feel  in  thy  heart  fangs  red 
with  blood  less  guilty  than  thine ! 

"  ^  How  dare  you  thrust  yourself  upon  my  privacy  1  Why  am 
I  not  alone  1  Fly  !  and  let  my  miseries  want  at  least  the 
aggravation  of  beholding  their  author.     My   eyes  loathe  the 


Early  Fiction  171 

sight   of  thee !     My  heart  would  suffocate  thee  with  its  own 
bitterness  !     Begone  ! 

" '  Thank  thy  fate,  youth,  that  my  hands  are  tied  up  by  my 
scorn ;  thank  thy  fate  that  no  weapon  is  within  reach.  I  dis- 
dain to  take  thy  life.  Go,  and  let  thy  fidelity  to  the  confidence 
I  have  placed  in  thee  be  inviolate.  Thou  canst  betray  the 
secrets  that  are  lodged  in  thy  bosom,  and  rob  me  of  the  comfort 
of  reflecting  that  my  guilt  is  known  to  but  one  among  the 
living.' " 

And  one  more : 

"  Shuddering,  I  dashed  myself  against  the  wall  and  turned 
myself  backward  to  examine  the  mysterious  monitor.  The 
moonlight  streamed  into  each  window  and  every  corner  of  the 
room  was  conspicuous,  and  yet  I  beheld  nothing  !  If  a  human 
being  had  been  there  could  he  fail  to  have  been  visible  ? " 

Brown's  pages  are  not  all  filled  with  such  passages  as 
these,  but  they  occur  often  enough  to  keep  the  reader 
awake  with  their  crawling  shivers.  It  is  the  riot  of  the 
improbable  and  the  impossible  in  action,  based  upon  a 
pestilence  or  the  red  Indian.  The  last  was  an  element 
which  our  early  and  later  writers  found  too  useful  to 
leave  out  of  the  new  American  fiction.  But  in  his  yellow 
literature  Brown  had  a  good  purpose  to  accomplish  in  (- 
enforcing  lessons  of  justice  and  humanity,  and  in  attempt- 
ing incidentally  to  have  something  done  to  head  off  the 
ravages  of  the  plague.  He  was  a  voice  crying  in  the 
wilderness  of  New  York  and  Philadelphia  for  sanitary  ^ 
reform.  He  would  not  find  himself  out  of  date  in  this 
respect  if  he  were  still  living.  Adopting  the  present  style 
of  fiction  he  might  still  do  good  service.  As  it  was,  he 
hit  the  taste  of  his  own  time,  not  over  nice,  and  the 
temper  of  an  age  of  restless  and  daring  speculation,  with 


ly^  American  Literature 

its  new-fledged  theories  in  medicine,  philosophy,  and 
social  science.  His  ghastly  and  ghoulish  treatment  of  his 
theme  was  not  altogether  inappropriate  to  its  horrors,  nor 
out  of  harmony  with  the  demands  of  readers  who  were 
familiar  with  them.  After  all,  these  weird  productions 
were  an  advance  upon  the  plaintive  and  melancholic  wail 
that  was  started  by  Susanna  Eowson.  They  were  at  least 
a  howling  wilderness  of  misery,  with  an  incidental  inculca- 
tion of  constancy  in  friendship  and  fortitude  in  suffering. 
These  and  other  virtues  were  bravely  held  up  for  admi- 
ration and  imitation  with  shrieks  and  fainting,  floods  of 
tears  and  tearing  rant,  and  the  crippling  paralysis  of 
nightmare.  Possibly  his  generation  needed  this  heroic 
treatment.  At  any  rate,  they  took  his  medicine  greedily, 
and  called  him  the  first  great  American  novelist  —  after 
England  had  approved. 

He  wrote  political  papers  also  of  considerable  value, 
advocating  the  Louisiana  purchase  and  the  territorial 
extension  of  the  United  States,  and  an  address  to  Con- 
gress upon  foreign  trade,  exhibiting  in  these  the  practical 
side  of  his  nature.  In  addition,  his  contributions  to  the 
periodical  press  were  numerous.  He  was  an  incessant 
and  rapid  writer,  with  premonitions  that  his  life  work 
must  be  done  early.     He  died  at  the  age  of  thirty -nine. 

His  novels,  recently  republished,  may  be  regarded  as  the 
climax  of  American  fiction  in  the  eighteenth  century  in 
its  late  movement.  They  stand  on  the  dividing  line 
between  two  centuries,  gathering  up  the  romanticism  of 
one  into  a  burning  focus,  and  foreshowing  the  realism  of 
the  next  in  a  baleful  glare  shed  over  uncommon  experi- 
ences. 

There  is  little  else  to  mark  the  passing  of  the  second 


Early  Fiction  173 

century  of  literary  performance  in  America.  In  some 
directions  there  was  much  to  be  attained,  but  at  the 
same  time  much  had  been  accomplished  in  The  Forward 
the  eighteen  decades  since  Bradford  began  his  ^°v*°^^"*- 
diary.  If  a  sentence  from  three  representative  writers 
be  taken  to  indicate  the  prevailing  spirit  and  manner  of 
their  time,  the  landmarks  of  a  forward  movement  will 
be  evident.  Tor  the  Puritan  age  let  Parson  Ward  of 
Ipswich  speak  in  his  "Simple  Cobler  of  Agawam,"  who 
was  simple  neither  in  wit  nor  style. 

"  We  have  been  reputed  a  CoUuvies  of  wild  Opinionists, 
swarmed  into  a  remote  wilderness  to  find  elbow-room  for 
our  Phanatic  Doctrines  and  practises ;  I  trust  our  diligence 
past,  and  constant  sedulity  against  such  persons  and 
courses  will  plead  better  things  for  us.  I  dare  to  take 
upon  me,  to  be  the  Herauld  of  New  England  so  far,  as 
to  proclaim  to  the  World,  in  the  name  of  our  Colony, 
that  all  Familists,  Antinomians,  Anabaptists,  and  other 
Enthusiasts  shall  have  free  liberty  to  keep  away  from  us, 
and  such  as  will  come  to  be  gone  as  fast  as  they  can,  the 
sooner  the  better."  Which  recalls  Governor  Dudley's 
ominous  couplet: 

"  Let  men  of  God  in  churches  wat^-h 
O'er  such  as  do  a  Toleration  hatch." 

Cotton  Mather's  eulogy  on  Eev.  Kalph  Partridge  ex- 
hibits the  fashion  in  1700:  "This  Partridge  had  the 
innocency  of  a  dove  and  the  loftiness  of  an  eagle.  Never- 
theless he  was  so  afraid  of  being  anything  which  looked 
like  a  bird  wandering  from  his  nest  that  he  remained 
with  his  people  till  he  took  wing  to  become  a  bird  of 
paradise." 

A  hundred  years  later  Jefferson  could  write  in  his  first 


174  American  Literature 

inaugural,  1801 :  "  During  the  contest  of  opinion  through 
which  we  have  passed  the  animation  of  discussions  and  of 
exertions  has  sometimes  worn  an  aspect  which  might 
impose  on  strangers  unused  to  think  freely  and  to  speak 
and  write  what  they  think,  but  this  being  now  decided  by 
the  voice  of  the  nation,  announced  according  to  the  rules 
of  the  Constitution,  all  will,  of  course,  arrange  themselves 
under  the  will  of  the  law  and  unite  in  common  efforts  for 
the  common  good." 

Comparison  of  these  representative  sentiments  shows 
that  as  great  an  advance  had  been  made  in  their  spirit  as 
in  the  form  of  their  expression.  The  new  nation  was 
beginning  to  create  a  new  literature. 


XVI 

AT  THE  BEGINNING  OF  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY 

There  was  as  little  in  American  literature  as  in  nature 
to  signalize  the  opening  of  the  nineteenth  century.  The 
sun  rose  and  set  as  usual  and  men  went  about  their  busi- 
ness without  further  disturbance  than  the  occasional 
lapse  into  the  habit,  one  hundred  years  old,  of  writing 
17 —  in  dating  their  letters.  Some  tried  to  imagine  that 
a  great  event  had  happened  when  they  crossed  the  century 
line,  as  in  crossing  the  equator.  Others  said  that  it  was 
only  an  arbitrary  division  of  the  years,  at  best  measuring 
ten  times  ten  of  them. 

If  some  name  to  place  upon  the  century  milestone  were 
sought  for,  none  more  significant  could  have  been  found 
than  that  of  John  Quincy  Adams.  He  was  at  .^^^  oumcy 
least  a  notable  representative  of  the  thinkers  ^^*™*' 
and  writers  then  abounding.  Political  strife  was  running 
high  and  strong.  Letters  themselves  were  full  of  politics, 
schemes,  and  partisanship.  Yet  the  outlook  of  the  nation 
was  growing  broader  and  more  cosmopolitan.  With  all 
this  the  son  of  the  second  president  was  in  sympathy. 
His  training  for  it  had  begun  as  a  boy  of  eleven,  when  he 
accompanied  his  father,  who  had  been  sent  on  a  diplomatic 
trip  to  France.  His  schooling  followed  in  European  courts 
and  cities  among  ambassadors  and  statesmen.  As  a  con- 
sequence he  received  a  singular  preparation  for  college, 
but  one  which  placed  him  in  the  junior  class  when  he  en- 

176 


176  American  Literature 

tered  Harvard.  After  graduation  came  the  study  of  law, 
and  then  the  customary  waiting  for  clients.  It  was  at 
this  period  that  his  literary  proclivities  began  to  appear 
and,  of  course,  in  polemics,  as  became  the  heir  of  a  Puritan 
line.  Thomas  Paine's  "Eights  of  Man"  inspired  young 
Adams  to  write  an  anonymous  refutation,  which  was  by 
some  attributed  to  his  father.  The  question  of  neutrality 
next  enlisted  his  ready  pen,  with  other  topics  which  were 
then  of  absorbing  interest.  These  started  him  in  a  diplo- 
matic career  in  Holland,  Prussia,  Eussia,  and  England. 
The  first  year  of  the  new  century  was  that  of  the 
publication  of  his  "  Tour  through  Silesia,"  one  of  his  inci- 
dental journeys  during  the  residence  in  Europe.  It  was 
typical  of  the  American  abroad,  and  the  forerunner  of 
numerous  books  of  travel  when  more  Americans  began  to 
go  into  all  lands  and  to  publish  their  impressions,  grave 
and  otherwise.  It  was  also  indicative  of  the  wider  view 
of  men  and  affairs  which  provincialism  was  bound  to  take 
when  rubbing  elbows  with  the  nations,  and  an  antidote  to 
separatism,  isolation,  and  undue  conceit.  In  form  this 
record  of  travel  into  an  out-of-the-way  region  was  a  series 
of  letters  to  the  writer's  brother  in  Philadelphia,  written 
with  the  freedom  and  unreserve  of  family  correspondence. 
But  an  enterprising  editor  of  the  "  Portfolio  "  saw  that  they 
would  prove  interesting  reading,  and  printed  them  with 
the  consent  of  the  recipient,  who  was  doubtless  proud  to 
honor  their  author  without  his  consent  or  knowledge. 
The  occurrence  is  a  comment  on  the  freedom  of  literary 
manners  at  the  time,  particularly  as  these  letters  were 
carried  to  London  and  reprinted  in  a  volume  three  years 
later,  where  the  author  first  saw  them  in  print.  Afterward 
they  were  published  in  German  and  French  translations, 


At  the  Beginning  of  the  19th  Century    177 

revealing  sundry  references  to  persons  and  conversations 
that  were  intended  for  the  eye  of  a  single  individual  in 
America.  The  art  of  discreet  editing  appears  to  have  been 
as  lacking  as  the  desire  to  benefit  the  public  was  ardent. 
When  Mr.  Adams  was  at  home  in  Quincy  in  1804  he 
made  this  entry  in  his  diary  for  the  20th  of  September : 
"This  afternoon  I  read  over  in  the  "Portfolio"  most 
of  my  letters  on  Silesia,  which,  by  an  advertisement 
in  the  newspapers,  appear  to  have  been  republished  in 
London  in  a  volume.  I  find  part  of  one  letter  from  Leip- 
zig, relating  to  Lord  Holland  and  Mr.  Elliot,  which  I 
always  much  regretted  to  see  published,  and  which  T  shall 
regret  still  more  if  it  is  included  in  the  republication.  In 
writing  the  Silesian  letters  I  had  no  expectation  that  any 
of  them  would  be  published." 

The  incident  and  the  volume  broach  a  subject  that  is  of 
more  consequence  than  either  in  the  history  of  American 
literature,  namely,  the  art  of  correspondence  and  its  place 
among  other  kinds  of  composition.  It  may  not  be  more 
just  to  say  that  it  is  a  lost  art  than  to  add  that  cheap 
postage  and  frequent  mails  have  destroyed  the  necessity 
for  long  letters.  But  there  are  other  qualities  which  have 
vanished  from  epistolary  writing  that  once  gave  it  a  right 
to  be  reckoned  among  the  lighter  forms  of  belles-lettres. 
This  French  term  was  applicable  to  them  literally. 

The  age  of  the  Adamses  was  the  golden  age  of  such 
productions,  and  the  family  itself  was  as  distinguished  in 
this  minor  department  of  letters  as  in  others,  correspon- 
The  correspondence  of  John  Adams  and   his  ***""' 
accomplished  wife  is  an  example  of  what  may  be  attained 
in  this  informal  method  of  communication  and  interchange 

of  ideas.    In  these  days  the  old  style  may  not  seem  alto- 

12 


ijS  American  Literature 

gether  informal.  Neither  would  the  manners  of  the  time. 
Besides,  it  is  possible  that  in  the  necessity  of  writiag  long 
letters  and  at  long  intervals  the  writers  were  not  unmind- 
ful of  what  had  hitherto  been  done  in  this  direction.  It 
was  a  time  when  the  letters  of  Cicero  and  Pliny  might 
have  been  read  in  the  original  by  a  large  proportion  of 
educated  people.  The  correspondence  of  Abelard  and 
Hdloise  could  not  have  been  unknown  to  Americans  in 
France,  and  the  letters  of  Walpole  and  Chesterfield  to  such 
as  were  in  England.  Pope's  epistles  and  Gray's  and  Lady 
Mary  Wortley  Montagu's  could  not  have  been  unheard-of 
if  unread  by  cultivated  Americans  who  were  distinguish- 
ing themselves  in  this  way,  as  Franklin  and  Jefferson  and 
the  Adamses.  For  two  centuries  letter-writing  had  been 
something  more  than  a  matter  of  business  or  news-telling. 
It  was  an  accomplishment,  into  the  acquisition  of  which 
went  painstaking  and  out  of  which  came  some  of  the  best 
and  most  instructive  writing  in  France,  England,  and 
America.  Nothing  so  illumines  the  obscure  corners  of 
national  life  and  personal  character  and  brings  back  the 
daily  going  out  and  coming  in  of  a  community.  What 
the  Paston  letters  were  to  the  reign  of  Henry  VI.  and 
Lady  Eussell's  to  that  of  Charles  11.  and  Mme.  De  S^vign^'s 
to  that  of  Louis  XIV.,  the  correspondence  of  American 
statesmen  was  to  the  stormy  times  in  the  last  half  of  the 
eighteenth  century  and  in  the  first  quarter  of  the  nine- 
teenth. Their  service  to  history  may  be  greater  than  to 
literature,  but  in  this  respect  they  cannot  be  overlooked. 
They  compare  favorably  with  other  productions  of  the  pe- 
riod and  more  than  favorably  with  the  performances  of 
our  own  day  in  the  same  direction. 

John  Quincy  Adams's  recognition  as  a  man  of  letters 


At  the  Beginning  of  the  19th  Century     179 

rested  on  proficiency  in  no  single  department.  Harvard 
College  admitted  this  in  appointing  him  to  the  chair  of 
rhetoric  and  belles-lettres  in  1806,  where  for  three  years 
he  delivered  lectures  which  were  afterward  printed  and 
for  a  time  had  great  repute.  This  was  in  the  line  of  the 
oratorical  composition  which  served  him  in  his  career  as 
a  statesman  in  the  legislative  assemblies  to  which  he  was 
chosen  at  a  later  day  and  as  a  framer  of  state  papers. 
His  collected  works,  apart  from  his  diary  and  correspond- 
ence, are  those  of  a  publicist  rather  than  of  a  man  who 
has  made  literature  the  pursuit  of  a  lifetime.  In  this  he 
may  be  here  contrasted  with  two  of  his  contemporaries. 

On  the  24th  of  January,  1807,  the  first  number  of  a 
paper  called  "  Salmagundi "  appeared  in  the  shop  of  D. 
Longworth,  publisher,  in  the  city  of  New  York. 
The  first  of  the  four  articles  which  it  contained  tu?e— "Sa" 

magundi." 

announced  that  the  intention  of  the  editors  was 
*'  to  instruct  the  young,  reform  the  old,  correct  the  town 
and  castigate  the  age :  this  is  an  arduous  task,  and  there- 
fore we  undertake  it  with  confidence.  Like  aU  true  and 
able  editors  we  consider  ourselves  infallible,  and  therefore 
with  the  customary  diffidence  of  our  brethren  of  the  quill, 
we  shall  take  the  liberty  of  interfering  in  all  matters  either 
of  a  public  or  private  nature."  The.  town  was  fairly 
warned  what  to  expect  and  they  were  not  disappointed 
in  their  expectations.  Launcelot  Langstaff,  William  "Wiz- 
ard, and  Anthony  Evergreen  were  equal  to  every  occasion. 
Manners,  fashions,  the  theatre,  social  assemblies,  concerts, 
travellers,  young  men  and  maidens,  train-bands,  poHtics, 
and  the  weather  came  in  for  a  share  of  running  comment 
and  criticism.  Even  well-known  citizens  imagined,  with 
more  or  less  reason,  that  they  were  sometimes  held  up 


i8o  American  Literature 

before  the  public  in  names  painfully  transparent.  A 
large  portion  of  the  next  issue  would  then  be  devoted  to 
denials  and  assurances  as  bad  as  the  original  exhibition. 
The  dinners  of  the  Giblet  family,  the  virtues  of  Miss 
Wearwell  and  the  eccentricities  of  Miss  Dashaway,  the 
singing  of  Demi  Semiquaver,  the  federalism  of  Uncle 
John,  the  resources  of  the  Cockloft  family,  the  career  of 
Straddle,  the  diversions  of  Gotham,  its  foibles  or  its  follies, 
are  all  prolific  themes  for  the  occupant  of  the  "elbow 
chair,"  prototype  of  the  "easy  chair"  of  a  worthy  suc- 
cessor. 

"  LolHng  in  my  elbow  chair  this  fine  summer  morn,  I  feel 
myself  insensibly  yielding  to  that  feeling  of  indolence  the  season 
is  so  well  fitted  to  inspire.  Surely  never  was  a  town  more 
subject  to  midsummer  fancies  or  dog-day  whim-whams  than  this 
most  excellent  of  cities.  No  sooner  does  a  new  disorder  or  a 
new  freak  seize  one  individual  but  it  is  sure  to  run  through  the 
whole  community.  Last  summer  it  was  the  poplar  worm.  This 
summer  everybody  has  had  full  employment  in  planning  forti- 
fications for  our  harbor.  Politics  is  a  kind  of  mental  food  soon 
digested ;  it  is  thrown  up  again  the  moment  it  is  swallowed.  Let 
but  one  of  these  quidnuncs  take  in  an  idea  through  eye  or  ear, 
and  it  immediately  issues  out  at  his  mouth  —  he  begins  to  talk. 
He  is  like  one  charged  with  electricity ;  present  but  a  knuckle 
and  he  begins  to  talk.  To  rise  in  this  country  a  man  must  first 
descend.  The  aspiring  politician  may  be  compared  to  that  in- 
defatigable insect  called  the  tumbler,  which  buries  itself  in  filth 
and  works  in  the  dirt  until  it  forms  a  little  ball,  which  it  rolls 
laboriously  along,  sometimes  head,  sometimes  tail  foremost." 

It  is  when  the  fashionable  nonsense  of  the  town  comes 
under  the  point  of  Langstaffs  pen  that  most  amusement 
is  afforded,  and  also  the  information  that  society  a  century 
ago  was  not  unlike  itself  to-day. 


At  the  Beginning  of  the  19th  Century    181 

"  It  is  highly  amusing  to  observe  the  gradation  of  a  family 
aspiring  to  style.  While  beating  up  against  wind  and  tide  they 
keep  bowing  and  bowing,  as  McSycophant  says,  and  absolutely 
overwhelm  you  with  their  friendship  and  loving  kindness.  But 
having  once  gained  the  envied  prominence,  never  were  beings 
in  the  world  more  changed,  assuming  the  most  intolerable 
caprices,  etc." 

No  reader  of  Addison's  "  Spectator,"  then  one  hundred 
years  old,  could  fail  to  see  that  these  papers  were  after 
the  manner  of  that  delectable  classic.  It  was  a  day  when 
the  question  of  imitation  was  not  so  vital  as  that  of  fidelity 
in  the  copy.  Independence  of  Great  Britain  politically 
had  not  been  successfully  followed  by  attempts  at  literary 
independence.  Some  clamored  for  this,  but  their  struggles 
for  it  did  not  meet  their  aspirations.  The  material  to 
work  upon  was  here  in  abundance  in  a  new  country,  but 
methods  and  style  are  matters  of  growth  and  inheritance 
rather  than  of  discovery.  Consequently  the  authors  of 
this  early  venture  in  the  field  of  light  literature  showed 
their  good  sense  in  following  the  best  model  that  could  be 
found  in  the  line  of  their  undertaking.  Considering,  too, 
that  they  were  young  men  and  young  Americans,  they 
displayed  more  wisdom  than  if  they  had  yielded  to  the 
demand  for  a  purely  national  literature  which  was  already 
beginning  to  be  made.  As  it  was,  there  was  sufficient 
originality  in  design  and  execution  to  free  the  enterprise 
from  the  charge  of  being  a  servile  copy.  It  was  simply 
the  similarity  of  subject  and  manner  of  treatment,  to 
which  must  be  added  in  the  case  of  the  principal  writer  a 
nature  not  unlike  Addison's. 

This  writer,  as  everybody  knows,  was  Washington 
Irving,  and  associated  with  him  as  the  other  chief  con- 


1 82  American  Literature 

tributor  was  James  K.  Paulding,  a  cousin  of  Major  Andre's 

captor.     It  will  be  following  the  order  of  development 

to  speak  of  Paulding  first,  for  he  represents 

Paulding.  i  *  . 

the  American  idea  of  literary  independence 
—  when  he  is  writing  by  himself  after  the  "  Salmagundi " 
partnership  with  Irving.  Experiences  during  the  revo- 
lutionary war  had  made  him  a  hater  of  everything  Eng- 
lish, and  when  the  war  of  1812  was  declared  he  published 
"  The  Diverting  History  of  John  Bull  and  Brother  Jona- 
than," in  which,  however,  the  style  is  more  British  than 
American  in  his  following  of  Swift  —  an  Irishman  in 
his  eyes.  His  pamphlet  on  "  The  United  States  and 
England "  and  "  A  Sketch  of  Old  England "  and  ''  John 
Bull  in  America,"  with  parodies  on  Scott's  poems  and 
novels,  betray  the  same  anglophobia.  He  was  better  in 
his  "Dutchman's  Fireside,"  a  story  of  the  old  French 
war,  which  passed  through  six  editions  in  a  year,  and 
was  republished  in  England,  France,  and  Holland.  In- 
terspersed with  the  titles  already  mentioned  were  novels, 
poems,  and  sketches,  stories,  comedies,  more  "  Salma- 
gundi," a  life  of  Washington  for  youth,  and  even  a 
defence  of  slavery,  all  of  which  required  a  literary  life 
of  nearly  half  a  century  to  produce.  Yet  this  was  a  re- 
markable achievement  for  a  man  who  had  only  fifteen 
dollars'  worth  of  schooling.  He  had  his  admirers  in  his 
own  generation  among  those  who  were  more  discriminat- 
ing in  political  matters  than  in  literary,  and  with  whom 
Americanism  counted  for  more  than  cosmopolitanism. 
He  represented  a  tendency  to  break  with  colonial  bond- 
age to  the  British  manner  because  it  was  British,  and  in 
so  far  was  a  pioneer  in  a  movement  that  was  sure  to  be 
started   when   the   opportune   time   should   arrive.     The 


At  the  Beginning  of  the  19th  Century    183 

difficulty  was  that  the  time  had  not  yet  come  when  the 
American  author  could  turn  his  back  upon  his  English 
predecessors  and  contemporaries  and  be  sure  of  a  literary 
renown  that  would  last  for  three  generations.  Irving  saw 
this,  but  Paulding  did  not.  This  is  not  the  only  reason 
why  the  one  is  read  and  re-read  and  the  other  almost  for- 
gotten, but  it  accounts  in  part  for  the  different  future 
which  was  awaiting  the  two  youthful  partners  in  "  Sal- 
magundi." The  book  itself,  however,  will  have  a  perennial 
interest  as  long  as  cities  are  inhabited  and  human  nature 
remains  unchanged.  ^ 

The  half  hopeful,  half  fearful  view  which  youthful 
Americans  took  of  their  country's  political  future  is 
illustrated  by  Paulding's  words  on  the  American  People : 

"If  the  people  of  the  United  States  cannot  sustain  a  free 
government,  or  if  they  suffer  themselves  to  be  enslaved  by  force 
or  fraud,  then  may  the  human  race  read  their  doom ;  for  never 
was  there,  and  never  can  there  be,  a  people  placed  under  circum- 
stances more  favorable  to  its  preservation.  The  moment  they 
cease  to  be  free  they  will  merit  the  scorn  and  contempt  of  the 
world. 

"  When  the  love  of  pelf  becomes  the  ruling  passion,  and  the 
golden  calf  the  only  divinity ;  when  money  is  made  the  stand- 
ard by  which  men  are  estimated,  and  held  as  the  sole  agent  in 
the  attainment  of  that  happiness  which  is  the  common  pursuit 
of  all  mankind  :  then  will  this  majestic  fabric  of  freedom  crum- 
ble to  pieces,  and  from  its  ruins  will  arise  a  hideous  monster 
with  Liberty  in  his  mouth,  and  Despotism  in  his  heart." 

The  independent  spirit  which  Paulding  advocated  is 
shown  in  a  note  of  his  which  an  editor  quotes  in  an 
edition  of  "  The  Dutchman  s  Fireside  " : 

"It  has  always  been  one  of  my  first  objects  to  incite  and 
encourage  the  genius  of  this  country,  and,  most  especially  to 


184  American  Literature 

draw  its  attention  toward  our  own  history,  traditions,  scenery, 
and  manners,  instead  of  foraging  in  the  barren  and  exhausted 
fields  of  the  Old  World.  I  have  lived  to  see  this  object  in  a 
great  measure  accomplished,  and  one  of  the  most  gratifying  of 
all  my  reflections  is,  that  possibly  I  have  had  some  little  agency 
in  bringing  it  about." 

With  equal  satisfaction  the  editor  adds : 

"Yes,  there  was  now  a  germ  of  an  American  literature; 
distinct ;  on  its  own  root ;  growing ;  vigorous ;  not  to  be  pooh- 
poohed,  or  trampled  under  foot,  or  easily  done  to  death  any 


And  then  follows  a  burst  of  prophecy  which  has  been 
partially  fulfilled : 

"Assuredly  the  time  will  arrive  when  the  Americans  as  a 
people  will  take  pride  in  a  literature  of  their  own  and  realize 
that  a  National  Literature  is  a  National  Power." 

In  the  same  book  Paulding  exemplifies  his  theory  of 
using  the  domestic  material  of  forest  and  river,  wild  beast 
and  Indian  in  a  way  that  anticipates  Cooper.  He  also 
anticipates  by  almost  a  century  the  policy  toward  the 
Indian  which  at  last  is  likely  to  prevail  over  all  others. 
He  makes  Sir  William  Johnson  say: 

"  I  sometimes  despair  of  being  able  to  consummate  the  plan 
which  has  gradually  opened  itself  to  my  mind  during  my 
residence  here,  and  which  is  now  become  the  leading  object  of 
my  life,  —  to  bring  the  Indians  into  the  circle  of  civilized  life. 
I  cannot  but  see  that  if  they  remain  as  they  are  they  must 
perish.  Nothing  can  save  them  but  conforming  to  the  laws, 
and  customs,  and  occupations  of  the  whites.  I  have  en- 
deavoured to  prepare  them  for  this,  and  for  that  purpose  have 
tried  to  gain  their  confidence  and  establish  an  influence  over 
them." 


XVII 

WASHINGTON    IRVING,    HUMORIST    AND    HISTORIAN 

In  the  year  which  saw  the  United  States  admitted  into 
the  commonwealth  of  nations  a  child  was  born  in  New 
York  city  who  should  eventually  be  considered 

Antecedents. 

worthy  to  sit  among  the  makers  of  literature 
in  England.  This  honor  had  not  been  accorded  to  any  of 
his  predecessors,  however  interesting  theological,  political, 
or  scientific  emanations  from  America  had  been  to  for- 
eigners devoted  to  such  discussions.  Something  broader 
than  these  specialties  was  asked  and  something  finer  than 
the  form  of  treatment  thus  far  prevailing.  The  harmoni- 
ous compound  of  vision  and  reflection,  the  sight  of  the 
eye  and  the  creative  imagination,  stirring  the  heart  and 
delighting  the  sense  of  fitness,  and  so  appealing  to  race 
sympathies  as  to  secure  permanent  appreciation  —  this 
combination,  or  a  similar  one,  which  creates  literature  had 
not  been  completely  effected  by  any  experimenter  here 
previous  to  Washington  Irving.  Nor  can  it  be  said  that 
he  was  the  final  lucky  accident  succeeding  many 
approaches.  New  York  had  not  been  preeminently  a 
literary  centre.  The  Irving  family,  though  with  a  pro- 
clivity for  letters,  were  not  descendants  of  a  long  line 
of  cultivated  ancestors,  as  was  often  the  case  with  some 
New  England  authors.  Young  Washington  himself  was* 
through  his  school  days  at  sixteen,  and,  though  a  bookish 
boy,  was  also  a  stroller  over  Manhattan  Island  with  a 

185 


1 86  American  Literature 

keen  eye  for  what  was  going  on,  and  a  wistful  gaze  after 
the  sails  that  filled  away  for  lands  remote.  In  fine,  the 
missing  link  in  the  evolution  theory  here  is  so  long  that 
it  is  easier  and  safer  to  say  that  he  occurred,  as  Goldsmith 
and  Addison  occurred ;  they  with  the  advantages  of  the 
university,  he  with  the  cultivation  which  travel  brings  and 
citizenship  of  the  wide  world.  Providence  bestowed 
upon  him  large  endowments,  of  which  he  made  the  most 
and  the  best. 

His  first  venture  by  himself,  after  the  "Salmagundi" 
experiment  with  his  brother  William  and  Paulding,  must 
"Knicker-  ^^^®  added  to  the  encouragement  which  that 
?ory  of^^'^"  liad  already  given  him.  "  The  History  of  New 
New  York."  york  from  the  Beginning  of  the  World  to  the 
End  of  the  Dutch  Dynasty,"  with  its  account  of  the  un- 
utterable ponderings  of  Walter  the  Doubter,  the  disas- 
trous projects  of  William  the  Testy,  and  the  chivalric 
achievements  of  Peter  the  Headstrong,  came  very  near 
being  what  the  author  asserted,  "  the  only  authentic  his- 
tory of  the  times  that  ever  hath  been  or  ever  will  be 
written."  If  history  is  a  reproduction  of  life,  as  well 
as  a  record  of  events,  no  better  representation  of  a  former 
age  to  illustrate  and  ridicule  the  on-goings  of  a  later  one 
is  likely  to  be  made  by  any  successor  of  Diedrich  Knicker- 
bocker.    For  example : 

*'  Such  was  the  happy  reign  of  Wouter  Van  Twiller,  celebrated 
in  many  a  long-forgotten  song  as  the  real  golden  age,  the  rest 
being  nothing  but  counterfeit,  copper-washed  coin.  In  that 
delightful  period  a  sweet  and  holy  calm  reigned  over  the  whole 
province.  The  burgomaster  smoked  his  pipe  in  peace  ;  the 
substantial  solace  of  his  domestic  cares,  after  her  daily  toils  were 
done,  sat  soberly  at  the  door,  with  her  arms  crossed  over  her 


Washington  Irving  187 

apron  of  snowy  white  without  being  insulted  by  ribald  street- 
walkers or  vagabond  boys  —  those  unlucky  urchins  who  do  so 
infest  our  streets,  displaying  under  the  roses  of  youth  the  thorns 
and  briers  of  iniquity.  Then  it  was.  that  the  lover  with  ten 
breeches  and  the  damsel  with  petticoats  half  a  score  indulged  in 
in  all  the  endearments  of  virtuous  love  without  fear  and  without 
reproach.  Happy  would  it  have  been  for  New  Amsterdam 
could  it  always  have  existed  in  this  state  of  blissful  ignorance 
and  lovely  simplicity,  but  alas  !  the  days  of  childhood  are  too 
sweet  to  last." 

As  for  the  writer's  own,  he  prolonged  them  to  the  latest 
extremity.  As  a  companion  of  jolly  fellows,  as  a  desirable 
young  man  in  society,  and  as  a  traveller  in  America  and 
Europe  he  always  seemed  younger  than  he  was.  He  was 
in  no  haste  to  begin  life  nor  ambitious  to  enter  upon  a 
career  —  especially  at  the  bar,  to  which  he  was  admitted 
by  the  utmost  charity  of  construction  as  to  his  knowledge 
of  the  law.  This,  however,  was  the  most  dignified  of  his 
delays  before  getting  down  to  the  business  of  his  life  of 
letters,  with  which  clients  did  not  greatly  interfere.  Like 
his  own  worthies  of  Pavonia,  "  drifting  quietly  on  until 
they  were  roused  by  an  uncommon  tossing  and  agitation 
of  their  vessels  *'  in  Hell  Gate,  he  allowed  himself  to  drift 
with  the  stream  until  the  failure  of  the  business  in  which 
he  had  a  share  threw  him  upon  his  oars.  Then  it  was 
that  he  turned  his  back  upon  the  frolic  of  "  Salmagundi " 
and  the  caricaturing  of  New  Amsterdam  arising  out  of 
mud  in  a  vapor  of  tobacco  smoke  and  peopled  with  the 
*'  fat,  somniferous,  and  respectable  families  that  flourished 
and  slumbered  in  the  early  days  of  Walter  the  Doubter," 
or  were  disturbed  by  the  untimely  reforms  of  Peter  the 
Testy.  All  this  was  rough  and  ready  'prentice  work  to 
what  was  to  follow  under  the  pressure  of  that  kind  of 


1 88  American  Literature 

necessity  which  has  settled  frisky  genius  into  the  harness 
before  and  since  his  days.  Moreover,  some  account  must 
be  taken  of  the  crushing  sorrow  which  came  into  his 
happy  life  in  the  death  of  the  woman  who  was  its  chief 
joy  and  would  have  been  his  wife,  whose  memory  was  a 
hallowed  presence  to  the  end  of  his  days.  In  after  years 
when  he  had  girded  himself  for  his  vocation  the  bright 
spirit  was  unquenched,  but  it  shone  in  a  man  who  had 
been  chastened  by  adversity  and  uplifted  and  enlarged  by 
grief.  To  his  natural  humor  was  added  a  tender  pathos, 
which  made  his  next  book  full  of  the  human  element  that 
attracts  and  holds  all  readers  with  irresistible  charm. 

"  The  Sketch-Book  of  Geoffrey  Crayon,  Gent,"  is  what 
its  title  implies,  a  collection  of  short,  suggestive  outlines 
"The Sketch.  ^^  narration  and  incident,  struck  off  with 
Book."  ^YiQ  fidelity  to  nature  and  certainty  of  touch 

which  belong  to  an  accomplished  artist.  A  few  masterly 
strokes  reveal  much  more  than  themselves,  and  intimate 
possibihties  far  beyond  the  limited  range  which  the 
author  allowed  himself.  For  example,  everybody  knows 
how  "  Kip  Van  Winkle "  has  been  illustrated  by  the 
dramatization  to  which  Joseph  Jefferson  has  given  a 
masterly  interpretation.  And  yet  it  is  a  dull  imagination 
which  has  not  seen  without  assistance  the  vagabond  Eip, 
his  dog  and  gun  and  termagant  spouse,  and  what  was  left 
of  these  after  the  twenty  years'  nap,  as  clearly  portrayed 
in  the  suggestive  lines  of  Irving. 

"He  looked  round  for  his  gun,  but  in  place  of  the  clean, 
well-oiled  fowling  piece  he  found  an  old  fire-lock  lying  by  him, 
the  barrel  incrusted  with  rust,  the  lock  falling  off  and  the  stock 
worm-eaten.  He  shook  his  head,  shouldered  the  rusty  gun  and 
turned  his  steps  homeward.     He  had  now  entered'the  skirts  of 


Washington  Irving  189 

the  village.  A  troop  of  strange  children  ran  at  his  heels,  hoot- 
ing after  him  and  pointing  at  his  gray  beard.  The  dogs,  too, 
not  one  of  which  he  recognized  for  an  old  acquaintance,  barked 
at  him  as  he  passed.  Strange  names  were  over  the  doors  — 
strange  faces  at  the  windows  —  everything  was  strange." 

This  is  a  portrayal  to  whose  realism  little  can  be  added 
by  brush  or  the  living  picture.  It  may  be  superbly  rep- 
resented, but  it  was  all  there  before  for  the  ordinary 
reader,  set  in  simple  words,  but  always  the  right  ones  in  ■ 
the  right  place. 

**  It  was  with  some  difficulty  that  he  found  the  way  to  his 
own  house,  which  he  approached  with  silent  awe,  expecting 
every  moment  to  hear  the  shrill  voice  of  Dame  Van  Winkle. 
He  found  the  house  gone  to  decay  —  the  roof  fallen  in,  the 
windows  shattered  and  the  doors  off  the  hinges.  A  half-starved 
dog  that  looked  like  Wolf  was  skulking  about  it.  Rip  called 
him  by  name,  but  the  cur  snarled,  showed  his  teeth,  and  passed 
on.     *  My  very  dog,'  sighed  poor  Rip,  *  has  forgotten  me  ! '  " 

This  seems  simple  and  easy  to  do.  The  reader  thinks 
that  it  is  the  very  way  he  himself  should  have  described 
the  old  fellow  if  he  had  seen  him.  To  test  the  matter, 
let  the  habit  of  Franklin  be  imitated.  Read  the  story 
once  more  and  rewrite  it;  then  compare  versions.  Pre- 
vious to  the  author's,  however,  was  the  greater  achieve- 
ment of  inventing,  or  if  it  was  an  adaptation  of  a  German 
legend,  of  adapting  the  character  to  the  drowsy  atmos- 
phere of  the  Catskills. 

The  genius  which  produced  the  "  Legend  of  Sleepy  Hol- 
low," and  thirty  other  sketches,  was  instantly  recognized 
in  England.  Walter  Scott's  quick  appreciation  and  gen- 
erous assistance  brought  the  new  author  into  pleasant  and 
profitable  relations  with  the  chief  publishers  of  London, 


190  American  Literature 

and  after  Scott,  Byron,  and  Murray  led,  there  was  nothing 
that  did  not  follow.  An  American  had  found  his  place 
in  the  fraternity  of  letters ;  and  without  bating  a  jot  of 
his  patriotism  or  sparing  the  truth  in  speaking  of  English 
prejudices,  established  himself  for  five  years  in  the  literary 
metropolis  where  he  could  best  do  his  work  and  find 
a  market  for  it.  It  was  also  greeted  at  home  with 
the  enthusiasm  that  could  rest  confidently  on  English 
approval,  while  fed  by  local  pride  in  a  national  represen- 
tative of  American  letters  abroad. 

Irving,  however,  was  becoming  a  cosmopolite.  Eng- 
land did  not  keep  him  too  long.  By  1820  he  was  in  Paris 
Life  and  Let-  ^otnobbing  with  Thomas  Moore,  following  up 
ters  Abroad.  ^^^  theatrcs,  catching  notes  of  applause  from 
across  the  Channel,  then  going  back  to  win  an  English  tri- 
umph on  English  soil  in  his  "  Bracebridge  Hall."  Xo  native 
could  have  pictured  the  life  of  a  country  squire  more  to  the 
satisfaction  of  all  England.  There  was  much  in  it  with 
which  the  author  himself  had  sympathy,  as  well  as  with 
the  people  he  describes.  As  if  in  half  apology  to  Ameri- 
cans he  says :  "  I  can  never  forget  that  this  is  my  father- 
land. And  yet  the  circumstances  under  which  I  have 
viewed  it  have  been  by  no  means  such  as  were  calculated 
to  produce  favorable  impressions."  He  then  remarks 
that  close  observation  will  often  change  opinions  hastily 
formed  of  a  national  character  which  shows  its  rough  side 
first.  Special  mention  is  made  of  the  reception  accorded 
to  the  essay  in  the  "  Sketch  Book "  on  literary  feuds 
between  England  and  America,  and  the  "  generous  sym- 
pathy in  every  English  bosom  toward  a  solitary  individual 
lifting  up  his  voice  in  a  strange  land  to  vindicate  the 
character  of  his  nation." 


Washington  Irving  191 

This,  indeed,  is  the  eminence  which  Irving  occupies, 
higher  than  that  of  being  our  first  man  of  letters  in  the 
order  of  time.  He  was  a  peacemaker  in  an  His  Good 
'age  of  misunderstanding,  jealousy,  and  hostil-  °®'=®^- 
ity.  The  ill-feeling  consequent  upon  two  wars  had  not 
Iwholly  subsided.  In  letters  there  was  independent  aspi- 
ration on  one  side,  complacent  superciliousness  and  sharp 
censoriousness  on  the  other.  In  this  very  year  Sydney 
Smith  contemptuously  asked :  "  Who  ever  reads  an  Amer- 
ican book  ?  "  The  one  man  who  was  able  to  reply  to  the 
taunt  could  do  it  in  his  "  English  Writers  on  America." 
A  few  sentences  will  show  the  large  and  generous  spirit 
in  which  this  was  done.  After  observing  that  impressions 
of  this  country  had  been  gained  from  the  worst  kind  of 
travellers,  he  remarks  that  the  prosperity  founded  upon 
political  liberty  and  the  general  diffusion  of  knowledge 
cannot  be  overlooked :  that  it  is  of  more  consequence  to 
England  than  to  us  that  justice  be  done  and  resentment 
allayed ;  that  "  possessing  the  fountain  head  whence  the 
literature  of  the  language  flows,  it  is  in  her  power  to  make 
it  the  medium  of  amiable  and  magnanimous  feeling  —  a 
stream  where  the  two  nations  might  meet  together  and 
drink  in  peace  and  kindness."  And  to  Americans  he 
says :  ''  Let  it  be  the  pride  of  our  writers,  discarding  all 
feelings  of  irritation  and  disdaining  to  retaliate  the  illib- 
erality  of  British  authors,  to  speak  of  the  English  nation 
without  prejudice  and  with  determined  candor.  While 
they  rebuke  the  indiscriminating  bigotry  with  which  some 
of  our  countrymen  admire  and  imitate  everything  English 
because  it  is  English,  let  them  frankly  point  out  what  is 
really  worthy  of  approbation."  The  entire  essay  shows 
Irving  in  the  character  of  a  broad-minded,  fearless  days- 


ig2  American  Literature 

man  between  the  two  countries  in  a  sphere  more  impor- 
tant than  diplomacy.  "  The  mere  contests  of  the  sword," 
he  says, "  are  temporary,  but  the  slanders  of  the  pen  pierce 
to  the  heart ;  they  rankle  longest  in  the  noblest  spirit ; 
they  dwell  ever  present  in  the  mind.  Trace  hostilities  to 
their  cause  and  they  will  be  found  to  originate  in  the  mis- 
chievous effusions  of  mercenary  writers  who  concoct  and 
circulate  the  venom  that  is  to  inflame  the  generous  and 
the  brave." 

How  much  this  author  did  toward  bringing  about  an 
"  era  of  good  feeling "  is  seen  in  the  contemporary  testi- 
mony of  the  day.  The  two  nations  might  still  be  at  log- 
gerheads on  many  subjects,  but  they  both  agreed  in  their 
reverence  for  the  man  who  dared  to  show  them  their 
obligations  and  privileges.  It  was  the  beginning  of  a 
better  understanding  by  each  people  of  the  good  qualities 
of  the  other  which  has  increased  with  every  decade.  And 
nothing  has  so  hastened  the  growth  of  kindly  sentiment 
or  temporarily  retarded  it  as  the  attitude  of  responsible 
writers  in  either  country. 

Of  Irving's  later  and  more  pretentious  labors  a  corre- 
sponding amount  might  be  said.  They  were  the  result  of 
Voluminous  ^  ^^^^  ^^^^  Came  with  advancing  years  to  do 
Writings.  niore  monumental  work.  After  the  "  Tales  of 
a  Traveller  "  had  been  thrown  off,  as  in  his  opinion  the 
climax  of  his  lighter  diversions  —  for  writing  was  no  task 
when  the  mood  seized  him  —  he  then  entered  upon  the 
most  prolific  period  of  his  career  at  the  age  of  forty-six. 
The  year  1826  found  him  at  Madrid  to  begin  his  "  Life  of 
Columbus."  This  occupied  two  pleasant  years,  and  was 
succeeded  by  the  "  Companions,"  and  this  by  the  "  Con- 
quest of  Granada"  and  "The  Alhambra"  before   1832, 


Washington  Irving  193 

when  he  returned  to  America  after  a  seventeen  years'  resi- 
dence in  Europe.  These  larger  achievements  brought  him 
academic  honors  from  Oxford  and  the  medal  of  the  Eoyal 
Society  of  Literature,  with  no  end  of  applause  abroad  and 
at  home.  Then,  after  ten  years  of  light  writing  about  this 
and  that,  tours,  recollections,  legends,  and  biographies, 
came  the  crowning  honor  of  his  life  in  the  mission  to 
Spain,  to  be  signalized  by  his  principal  work,  the  "  Life  of 
Washington."  With  the  last  volume  of  this  he  may  be 
said  to  have  ended  his  days  at  the  "  Sunnyside  "  retreat  on 
the  banks  of  the  river  he  loved,  whose  borders  he  had 
peopled  with  legendary  beings  recalled  from  the  shadowy 
and  dreamy  years  of  the  old  Dutch  dynasty. 

With  respect  to  the  two  points  of  view  from  which 
every  writer  is  estimated  —  namely,  his  own  period  and 
ours — it  may  be  said  of  Irving  that  he  wears  success  and 
well.  Against  the  background  of  the  time  in  ^°^*^*°°- 
which  he  lived  it  is  not  strange  that  he  was  regarded  as  a 
marvel.  His  early  work  was  done  in  an  age  of  literary 
barrenness,  itself  the  natural  sequence  of  disturbed  condi- 
tions in  the  state  of  the  country,  which  the  war  of  1812 
helped  to  settle.  In  such  a  time  such  a  writer  could  not 
be  otherwise  than  preeminent.  In  his  department  there 
was  no  second  in  this  country,  nor  anything  better  abroad. 
If  he  is  compared  with  writers  of  the  present  time  in  the 
class  of  work  which  he  did  best,  are  any  better  to  be 
found  ?  The  short  story  has  been  marvellously  developed 
in  recent  years,  but  Irving  anticipated  some  of  its  best 
effects  eighty  years  ago,  and  if  not  its  sole  pioneer  was  its 
most  skilful  narrator  by  far.  As  an  historian  and  a  biog- 
rapher he  has  been  surpassed  in  the  particulars  which 
make  such  writers  philosophically  eminent,  but  in   the 


19t, 


194  American  Literature 

domain  of  the  creative  imagination,  dealing  with  twilight 
forms  and  investing  the  commonplace  with  the  haze  of 
romance  he  has  no  peer.  If,  again,  the  continuous  sale  of 
works  is  an  evidence  of  his  permanent  value,  it  may  be  said 
that  few  authors  have  had  such  a  record  for  fourscore  years, 
either  in  compensation  for  copyright  or  in  the  disposal  of 
edition  after  edition.  For  the  single  work  the  "  Life  of 
Columbus  "  he  received  $15,750,  and  the  copies  of  almost 
any  of  his  writings  from  first  to  last  may  be  numbered  by 
the  hundreds  of  thousands.  Such  success  is  phenomenal 
in  a  cultivated  nation.  It  was  preeminently  exceptional  in 
a  raw  coiuitry,  in  a  time  of  literary  famine  and  with  peculiar 
obstacles  to  foreign  recognition.  Over  these  hindrances 
Irving  triumphed  by  the  literary  faculty  which  he  pos- 
sessed and  improved,  and  by  the  winning  graces  of  his 
manner  and  the  genuine  kindness  of  his  heart  and  the  high 
moral  tone  of  his  writings.  Two  nations,  which  he  did 
more  than  any  man  of  his  time  to  unite,  will  always  do 
him  reverence. 

As  an  example  of  his  humor  this  portrait  of  John  Bull 
—  a  favorite  subject  at  the  time — caused  a  smile  on 
both  sides  of  the  Atlantic  : 

"  There  is  no  species  of  humor  in  which  the  English  more 
excel,  than  that  which  consists  in  caricaturing  and  giving 
ludicrous  appellations,  or  nicknames  :  In  this  way  they  have 
designated,  not  merely  individuals,  but  nations;  and  in  their 
fondness  for  pushing  a  joke  they  have  not  spared  even  them- 
selves in  the  figure  of  a  sturdy,  corpulent  old  fellow,  with  a 
three-cornered  hat,  red  waistcoat,  leather  breeches,  and  stout 
oaken  cudgel.  .  .  . 

"To  all  appearance  he  is  a  plain,  downright  matter-of-fact 
fellow,  with  much  less  of  poetry  than  rich  prose.  He  excels 
in  humor  more  than  in  wit ;  is  jolly  rather  than  gay ;  melan- 
choly rather  than  morose;  can  easily  be  moved  to  a  sudden 


Washington  Irving  195, 

tear,  or  surprised  into  a  broad  laugh ;  but  he  loathes  sentiment, 
and  has  no  turn  for  light  pleasantry.  .  .  . 

"He  is  continually  volunteering  his  services  to  settle  his 
neighbors*  affairs,  and  takes  it  in  great  dudgeon  if  they  engage 
in  any  matter  of  consequence  without  asking  his  advice ;  though 
he  seldom  engages  in  any  friendly  ofi&ce  of  the  kind  without 
finishing  by  getting  into  a  squabble  with  all  parties,  and  then 
railing  bitterly  at  their  ingratitude.  He  cannot  hear  of  a  quar- 
rel between  the  most  distant  of  his  neighbors,  but  he  begins 
incontinently  to  fumble  with  the  head  of  his  cudgel,  and  con- 
sider whether  his  interest  or  honor  does  not  require  that  he 
should  meddle  in  the  broil.  Indeed  he  has  extended  his  rela- 
tions of  pride  and  policy  so  completely  over  the  whole  country, 
that  no  event  can  take  place  without  infringing  some  of  his 
finely-spun  rights  and  dignities.  Couched  in  his  little  domain 
with  these  filaments  stretching  forth  in  every  direction,  he  is 
like  some  choleric,  bottle-bellied  old  spider,  who  has  woven  his 
web  over  a  whole  chamber,  so  that  a  fly  cannot  buzz  nor  a 
breeze  blow  without  startling  his  repose,  and  causing  him  to 
sally  forth  wrathfully  from  his  den. 

"  It  is  one  of  his  peculiarities,  however,  that  he  only  relishes 
the  beginning  of  an  affray ;  he  always  goes  into  a  fight  with 
alacrity,  but  comes  out  of  it  grumbling  even  when  victorious ; 
and  though  no  one  fights  with  more  obstinacy  to  ^carry  a  con- 
tested point,  yet,  when  the  battle  is  over,  and  he  comes  to  a 
reconciliation,  he  is  so  much  taken  up  with  the  mere  shaking  of 
hands,  that  he  is  apt  to  let  his  antagonist  pocket  all  that  they 
have  been  quarrelling  about.  It  is  not,  therefore,  fighting  that 
he  ought  so  much  to  be  on  his  guard  against,  as  making  friends. 

"  He  is  a  little  fond  of  playing  the  magnifico  abroad ;  of  pull- 
ing out  a  long  purse;  flinging  his  money  bravely  about;  but 
immediately  after  one  of  these  fits  of  extravagance,  he  will  be 
taken  with  violent  qualms  of  economy,  and  in  such  moods  will 
not  pay  the  smallest  tradesman's  bill  without  violent  altercation, 
drawing  his  coin  out  of  his  breeches'  pocket  with  infinite  re- 
luctance; paying  to  the  uttermost  farthing,  but  accompanying 
every  guinea  with  a  growl. 

"  With  all  his  talk  of  economy,  however,  he  is  a  bountiful 


19^  American  Literature 

provider,  and  a  hospitable  housekeeper.  Everything  that  lives 
on  him  seems  to  thrive  and  grow  fat.  Groups  of  veteran  beef- 
eaters, gouty  pensioners,  and  retired  heroes  of  buttery  and  larder 
loll  about  his  walls,  doze  under  his  trees,  and  sun  themselves 
upon  his  benches.  .  .  . 

"  His  very  faults  smack  of  the  raciness  of  his  good  qualities. 
His  extravagance  savors  of  generosity  ;  his  quarrelsomeness  of 
his  courage ;  his  credulity  of  his  faith ;  his  vanity  of  his  pride ; 
his  bluntness  of  his  sincerity." 

Some  of  living's  qualities  as  an  historian  or  as  a  biog- 
rapher—  since  he  was  better  in  the  latter  capacity  — 
are  indicated  by  his  observations  on  the  character  of 
Columbus. 

"  Columbus  was  a  man  of  great  and  inventive  genius.  The 
operations  of  his  mind  were  energetic  but  irregular,  bursting 
forth  at  times  with  that  irresistible  force  which  characterizes 
intellects  of  such  an  order.  His  ambition  was  lofty  and  noble, 
inspiring  him  with  high  thoughts,  and  an  anxiety  to  distinguish 
himself  by  great  achievements.  He  aimed  at  dignity  and  wealth 
in  the  same  elevated  spirit  with  which  he  sought  renown ;  they 
were  to  rise  from  the  territories  he  should  discover,  and  be 
commensurate  in  importance.  The  vast  gains  that  he  antici- 
pated fronr  his  discoveries  he  intended  to  appropriate  to 
princely  purposes;  to  institutions  for  the  relief  of  the  poor  of 
his  native  city,  to  the  foundation  of  churches,  and  above  all, 
to  crusades  for  the  recovery  of  the  holy  sepulchre. 

"  The  magnanimity  of  his  nature  shone  forth  through  all  the 
troubles  of  his  stormy  career.  Though  continually  outraged  in 
his  dignity,  braved  in  his  authority,  foiled  in  his  plans,  and 
endangered  in  his  person  by  the  seditions  of  turbulent  and 
worthless  men,  yet  he  restrained  his  valiant  and  indignant 
spirit,  and  brought  himself  to  forbear  and  reason,  and  even  to 
supplicate.  ITor  should  we  fail  to  notice  how  free  he  was  from 
all  feeling  of  revenge,  how  ready  to  forgive  and  forget  on  the 
least  signs  of  repentance  and  atonement.  He  has  been  extolled 
for  his  skill  in  controlling  others,  but  far  greater  praise  is  due 
him  for  the  firmness  he  displayed  in  governing  himself. 


Washington  Irving  197 

<*  His  piety  was  genuine  and  fervent ;  religion  mingled  with 
the  whole  course  of  his  thoughts  and  actions,  and  shone  forth 
in  his  most  private  and  unstudied  writings.  Whenever  he 
made  any  great  discovery,  he  devoutly  returned  thanks  to  God. 
He  observed  the  festivals  of  the  Church  in  the  wildest  situa- 
tions. The  sabbath  was  to  him  a  day  of  sacred  rest,  on  which 
he  would  never  sail  from  port  unless  in  case  of  extreme  neces- 
sity. The  religion,  thus  deeply  seated  in  his  soul,  diffused  a 
sober  dignity,  and  a  benign  composure  over  his  whole  deport- 
ment ;  his  very  language  was  pure  and  guarded^  and  free  from 
all  gross  or  irreverent  expressions.  .  .  . 

"A  peculiar  trait  in  his  rich  and  varied  character  remains 
to  be  noticed ;  namely,  that  ardent  and  enthusiastic  imagina- 
tion which  threw  a  magnificence  over  his  whole  course  of 
thought.  A  poetic  temperament  is  discernible  throughout  all 
his  writings  and  in  all  his  actions.  It  spread  a  golden  and 
glorious  world  around  him,  and  tinged  everything  with  its  own 
gorgeous  colors.  It  exalted  his  own  office  in  his  eyes  and  made 
him  conceive  himself  an  agent  sent  forth  upon  a  sublime  and 
awful  mission,  and  subject  to  mysterious  intimations  from  the 
Deity ;  such  as  the  voice  which  he  imagined  spoke  to  him  in 
comfort  amidst  the  troubles  of  Hispaniola,  and  in  the  silence 
of  night  on  the  disastrous  coast  of  Veragua. 

"  With  all  the  visionary  fervor  of  his  imagination,  its  fondest 
dreams  fell  short  of  the  reality.  He  died  in  ignorance  of  the 
real  grandeur  of  his  discovery  !  Until  his  last  breath,  he  en- 
tertained the  idea  that  he  had  merely  opened  a  new  way  to  the 
old  resorts  of  opulent  commerce,  and  had  discovered  some  of 
the  wild  regions  of  the  East.  What  visions  of  glory  would 
have  broken  upon  his  mind  could  he  have  known  that  he  had 
indeed  discovered  a  new  continent  equal  to  the  old  world  in 
magnitude,  and  separated  by  two  vast  oceans  from  all  the  earth 
hitherto  known  by  civilized  man  !  and  how  would  his  magnani- 
mous spirit  have  been  consoled,  could  he  have  anticipated  the 
splendid  empires  which  would  arise  in  the  beautiful  world  he 
had  discovered !  and  the  nations  and  tongues  and  languages 
which  were  to  fill  its  lands  with  his  renown,  and  to  revere  and 
bless  his  name  to  the  latest  posterity ! " 


XVIII 

THE  KNICKERBOCKER  GROUP 

No  writer  of  living's  genius  could  spring  up  in  a  barren 
age  without  inspiring  such  mediocre  talent  as  might  be 
inclined  to  lethargy.  The  mere  stirring  of  fallow  ground 
will  send  up  unsuspected  growths,  and  the  awakening 
which  the  keen  humorist  gave  the  drowsy  men  of  Man- 
hattan started  a  crop  of  letters,  among  other  effects  of 
the  shock.  If  the  name  of  the  Knickerbocker  School  be 
too  large  for  the  little  group  of  authors  who  followed  afar 
Diedrich  the  historian,  it  may  be  said  that  the  term  was 
applied  to  less  dignified  objects  in  the  day  of  its  immense 
popularity  and  to  more  worthy  ones  since. 

The  "  New  York  Evening  Post "  had  been  established  in 
the  first  year  of  the  century  with  a  hospitable  policy  tow- 
ard letters,  as  well  as  a  critical  spirit  which  enhanced 
the  honor  of  appearing  in  its  columns.  To  gain  admit- 
tance to  them  was  next  to  having  a  book  published.  On 
the  street  and  in  coffee-houses  were  knots  of  young  men 
with  corresponding  ambitions,  notwithstanding  the  com- 
mercial bias  of  the  city  and  the  material  bent  of  the  age. 
Foremost  among  them  was  a  banker's  clerk,  who  was  not 
so  far  lost  in  arithmetical  figures  that  he  could  not 
appreciate  poetical,  and  even  wished  that  he  might  "  lounge 
upon  a  rainbow  and  read  Tom  Campbell,"  a  sentiment 
with  which  a  bystander  agreed.     In  this  way  Fitz-Greene 

198 


The  Knickerbocker  Group  199 

Halleck  and  Joseph  Eodman  Drake  became  acquainted  in 
the  spring  of  1819  ;  the  beginning  of  a  literary  companion- 
ship as  intimate  as  it  was  brief,  for  Drake  died  the  next 
year. 

Judged  by  what  he  had  begun  to  do,  this  young  poet 
was  cut  down  at  the  opening  of  a  promising  career.  His 
early  essays  in  verse  found  their  subjects  for 
satire  in  the  topics  of  the  town,  but  descriptive 
and  patriotic  pieces  soon  followed,  the  address  to  the 
American  flag  deserving  a  higher  place  than  all  that  have 
succeeded  it.  A  more  remarkable  feat  was  the  production 
in  two  or  three  days  of  "  The  Culprit  Fay,"  in  refutation 
of  an  assertion  that  it  would  be  diflacult  to  write  a  fairy 
poem,  purely  imaginative,  without  the  aid  of  human 
characters.  He  accomplished  this  work  with  no  nearer 
approach  to  humanity  than  in  these  two  lines : 

"  For  an  Ouphe  has  broken  his  vestal  vow  ; 
He  has  loved  an  earthly  maid." 

The  rest  is  the  fanciful  account  of  the  consequences  of 

such  a  high  misdemeanor,  fuU  of  delicate  art  and  the 

traceries  of  an  imagination  at  home  with  the  hidden  things 

of  nature,  itself  idealized  and  peopled  with  intelligences 

of  the  poet's  own  creating.     It  is  the  midsummer  night's 

dream  of  an  airy  fancy  set  to  this  measure : 

"  He  put  his  acorn  helmet  on  ; 
It  was  plumed  of  the  silk  of  the  thistle  down  ; 
The  corselet  plate  that  guarded  his  breast 
Was  once  the  wild  bee's  golden  vest ; 
His  cloak  of  a  thousand  mingled  dyes 
Was  formed  of  the  wings  of  butterflies ; 
His  shield  was  the  shell  of  a  ladybug  queen, 
Studs  of  gold  on  a  ground  of  green  ; 
And  the  quivering  lance  which  he  brandished  bright 
Was  the  sting  of  a  wasp  he  had  slain  in  fight. 


200  American  Literature 

Swift  he  bestrode  his  firefly  steed  ; 

He  bared  his  blade  of  the  bent  grass  blue  ; 
He  drove  his  spurs  of  the  cockle-seed, 

And  away  like  a  glance  of  thought  he  flew 
To  skim  the  heavens  and  follow  far 
The  fiery  trail  of  the  rocket  star. 

"  Up  to  the  vaulted  firmament 
His  path  the  firefly  courser  bent, 
And  at  every  gallop  on  the  wind. 
He  flung  a  glittering  spark  behind  ; 
He  flies  like  a  feather  in  the  blast 
Till  the  first  light  cloud  in  heaveu  is  past. 
But  the  shapes  of  air  have  begun  their  work, 
And  a  drizzly  mist  is  round  him  cast : 
He  cannot  see  through  the  mantle  murk, 
He  shivers  with  cold,  but  he  urges  fast ; 
Through  storm  and  darkness,  sleet  and  shade, 
He  lashes  his  steed  and  spurs  amain. 
For  shadowy  hands  have  twitched  the  rein, 
And  flame-shot  tongues  around  him  played, 
And  near  him  many  a  fiendish  eye 
Glared  with  a  fell  malignity. 
And  yells  of  Tage,  and  shrieks  of  fear, 
Came  screaming  on  his  startled  ear." 

The  entire  poem  should  be  the  delight  of  children  who 
dwell  on  the  borderland  of  the  seen  and  the  unseen. 
Had  the  author  lived,  the  prose  fancies  of  Irving  might 
have  had  their  counterpart  in  the  verse  of  Drake,  inspired 
by  the  same  enchanted  ground  of  the  American  Ehineland. 

Halleck  survived  to  write  an  elegy  upon  his  friend, 

which  shows  how  far  the  art  had  progressed  since  the 

days  of   Mather;   also  to  continue  the  strain 

Halleck. 

of  American  verse  which  the  two  friends  had 
joined  in  contributing  to  the  columns  of  the  "Evening 
Post,"  in  "  The  Croakers,"  a  sort  of  rhymed  "  Salmagundi," 
whose  present  value  is  chiefly  to  throw  light  upon  the 


The  Knickerbocker  Group  201 

society  and  politics  of  old  New  York.  By  and  by  he  was 
stirred  by  the  wrongs  of  suffering  Greece  to  lift  up  the 
voice  of  freedom  in  "  Marco  Bozzaris,"  the  genuine  worth 
of  which  has  been  somewhat  cheapened  by  countless 
repetitions  in  numberless  schoolrooms.  Yet  it  might 
otherwise  have  been  known  to  fewer  of  the  author's 
countrymen,  especially  in  a  later  day,  when  American 
poets  began  to  abound.  In  his  day  as  good  ones  as  he 
was  were  not  abundant,  and  if  he  was  overrated  then 
there  is  danger  that  his  real  excellence  will  be  forgotten 
now.  Still,  his  best  work  was  done  early,  and  some  of  it 
will  always  find  a  place  in  collections  of  such  American 
poetry  as  is  worth  keeping  before  the  people  for  historic 
or  artistic  reasons.  Whoever  has  lost  a  friend  of  his 
youth  will  associate  with  the  recollection  of  his  sorrow 
the  lament  of  Halleck  for  his  companion,  beginning: 

"  Green  be  the  turf  above  thee, 
Friend  of  my  better  days  ! 
None  knew  thee  but  to  love  thee, 
Nor  named  thee  but  to  praise.'* 

His  "Alnwick  Castle"  is  a  memory  of  old  England 
with  the  kindly  reversion  of  a  race  never  wholly  alienated 
from  the  old  home : 

"  Home  of  the  Percy's  high-born  race, 

Home  of  their  beautiful  and  brave, 
Alike  their  birth  and  burial  place, 

Their  cradle  and  their  grave  ! 
Still  sternly  o'er  the  castle  gate 
Their  house's  Lion  stands  in  state, 

As  in  his  proud  departed  hours  ; 
And  warriors  frown  in  stonfe  on  high 
And  feudal  banners  '  flout  the  sky ' 

Above  his  princely  towers. 


202  American  Literature 

**  A  gentle  hill  its  side  inclines, 

Lovely  in  England's  fadeless  green, 
To  meet  the  quiet  stream  which  winds 

Through  this  romantic  scene 
As  silently  and  sweetly  still, 
As  when  at  evening,  on  that  hill, 

While  summer's  wind  blew  soft  and  low, 
Seated  by  gallant  Hotspur's  side 
His  Katherine  was  a  happy  bride, 

A  thousand  years  ago. 

**  Wise  with  the  lore  of  centuries. 

What  tales,  if  there  be  '  tongues  in  trees,' 
Those  giant  oaks  could  tell, 

Of  beings  bom  and  buried  there  ; 
Tales  of  the  peasant  and  the  peer, 
Tales  of  the  bridal  and  the  bier. 

The  welcome  and  farewell, 
Since  on  their  boughs  the  startled  bird 
First,  in  her  twilight  slumbers  heard 

The  Norman's  curfew-bell ! " 

It  is  to  be  regretted  that  the  poet  did  not  stop  at  this 
point,  and  leave  the  anticlimax  for  a  separate  and  ail- 
American  effort.  But  King  George's  Lexington  and  Con- 
cord Percy  was  too  much  for  Halleck  the  patriot  —  and 
also  Halleck  the  poet. 

Clement  C.  Moore  has  a  place  among  the  writers  who 
were  inspired  by  Dutch  traditions  to  produce  a  Knicker- 
bocker literature.     No  doubt  the   theological 

Moore.  ^ 

professor  expected  to  rest  his  fame  upon  the 
first  Hebrew  and  English  lexicon  compiled  in  this  coun- 
try, or  upon  his  version  of  Lavardin's  "  History  of  George 
Castriot."  Instead,  when  he  is  placed  among  the  im- 
mortals, it  will  be  in  recognition  of  his  "  Visit  from  St. 
Nicholas,"  which  all  children  know  begins : 

"  'T  was  the  night  before  Christmas,  when  all  through  the  house 
Not  a  creature  was  stirring,  not  even  a  mouse." 


The  Knickerbocker  Group  203 

But,  as  Sir  Thomas  Brown  might  have  said,  no  man 
knoweth  the  word  whereby  he  shall  be  remembered,  or 
chooseth  the  stone  for  his  own  monument.  Possibly  the 
restorer  of  the  old  Dutch  legend  might  now  prefer  to  be 
associated  with  children's  Christmas  joy  forever  rather 
than  with  political  and  theological  writings  of  consequence 
in  his  time  and  of  little  account  in  ours. 

Gulian  C.  Verplanck  was  a  New  Yorker  whose  services 
to  literature  entitle  him  to  mention.  First  a  lawyer,  then 
a  politician,  and  afterward  a  lecturer  in  divin- 

Verplanck. 

ity,  his  pen  was  seldom  idle.  "  Essays  on  Ke- 
vealed  Eeligion"  and  on  the  ''Doctrine  of  Contrasts"  were 
the  more  substantial  result,  while  "The  State  Triumvirate" 
and  the  "  Ceremony  of  Installation  "  are  in  a  lighter  vein. 
As  a  member  of  Congress  he  was  prominent  in  obtaining 
the  extension  of  the  term  of  copyright  from  twenty-eight 
to  forty-two  years.  Later  he  was  associated  with  Sands 
and  Bryant  in  the  "Talisman,"  a  publication  containing 
some  of  the  best  writing  of  the  time.  In  his  addresses  on 
art,  history,  and  literature  and  "The  Influence  and  Use 
of  Liberal  Studies,"  and  especially  on  "  The  American 
Scholar,"  he  anticipated  some  of  the  more  recent  essayists 
and  orators  who  have  made  kindred  themes  the  subjects  of 
high  discussion.  As  an  early  editor  of  Shakespeare's  plays 
he  did  much  for  his  countrymen  in  pointing  out  in  the  text 
colloquial  expressions  which  had  been  called  Americanisms 
because  they  had  been  dropped  in  England,  —  another  in- 
stance of  the  agency  of  colonies  in  retarding  changes  in 
language.  For  example  —  one  that  he  does  not  mention 
—  our  word  "  baggage  "  was  used  in  a  passport  issued  by 
Edward  YI.  in  1547.  Why  should  an  American  use  the 
later  "  luggage  "  ?    Possibly  for  the  same  reason  that  he 


204  American  Literature 

turns  up  his  trousers  in  pleasant  weather  on  Broadway  — 
"  because  it  rains  in  London." 

There  were  other  Knickerbockers  less  distinguished 
then,  or  perhaps  less  familiar  now,  as  Sands  and  Hoffman, 
Morris  and  Woodworth,  Clarke,  Brooks,  and  Benjamin, 
Clason  and  Clinch  and  others,  who  wrote  lightly  and 
pleasantly  or  majestically  and  heavily  and  sometimes 
voluminously.  Their  books  are  now  dusted  principally  by 
antiquarians,  and  the  authors  themselves,  as  stars  of  the 
third  and  fourth  magnitude,  grew  dim  as  the  day  grew 
brighter. 

William  Cullen  Bryant  may  be  considered  as  an  adopted 

member  of  the  Knickerbocker  group,  since  he  was  not  born 

in  New  York,  but  on  the  Hampshire  hills  of 

Bryant. 

western  Massachusetts.  However,  he  was  not 
long  in  finding  his  way  to  the  metropolis  and  to  the  little 
circle  who  made  it  the  literary  centre  of  the  country  at 
the  time.  A  copy  of  Irving's  "  Knickerbocker's  History  " 
had  travelled  into  the  lonely  village  where  young  Bryant 
was  reading  law  and  gave  him  a  taste  of  what  was  pos- 
sible in  lower  latitudes.  Hitherto  his  reading  had  been 
among  the  professional  books  of  his  father's  medical 
library,  varied  by  the  Latin  poets,  the  Greek  Testament, 
Watts'  Hymns,  and  Pope's  "  Hiad."  But  meter  and  rhyme 
were  a  part  of  his  nature  and  blossomed  out  in  juvenile 
verses,  religious  and  political,  to  the  delight  of  his  father 
and  to  his  own  subsequent  chagrin. 

To  these  there  were  two  notable  exceptions,  left  at 
home  when  he  went  away  to  practise  law  in  Great 
Barrington.  His  father  found  them  one  day,  six  years 
afterward,  when  rummaging  in  a  drawer,  read  them  him- 
self and  to   a  neighbor,   and  without  asking  his   son's 


The  Knickerbocker  Group  205 

permission  started  post-haste  for  Boston  and  the  editor 
of  the  "North  American  Keview,"  then  a  two-year-old 
magazine. 

If  this  overland  journey  of  one  hundred  miles  was  a 
remarkable  instance  of  paternal  pride,  there  was  some- 
thing to  warrant  it,  for  one  of  the  poems  was  ..  ^hana- 
"Thanatopsis"  and  the  other  "  An"  Inscription  *°p^'^-" 
upon  the  Entrance  to  a  Wood."  The  first  of  these  was 
enough  to  establish  the  author  as  a  poet  of  no  common 
order.  It  came  to  a  reflective  people  in  an  age  when  the 
shadow  of  gloom  had  not  entirely  passed,  having  a  sad 
note  that  appeals  to  every  reader  in  sober  days,  and  rais- 
ing visions  of  the  sublimity,  majesty,  and  vastness  of  the 
Universe  whicji  bring  a  pleasing  awe  to  the  soul  of  man 
in  the  presence  of  infinity  and  futurity.  It  is  a  poem  of 
the  intellect  rather  than  the  heart,  grand,  austere,  solemn, 
a  funeral  anthem  of  the  human  race. 

"  The  golden  sun, 
The  planets,  all  the  infinite  host  of  heaven, 
Are  shining  on  the  sad  abodes  of  death 
Through  the  still  lapse  of  ages." 

Mystery,  immensity,  and  eternity  are  over  and  around 
the  endless  procession  of  life  toward  the  grave.  But  upon 
it  the  poet  looks  with  the  undisturbed  spirit  of  an 
upright  man  who  accepts  the  mighty  order  which  he 
cannot  obstruct  or  change.  His  unfaltering  trust  is  in 
the  Power  which  is  beneath  the  majestic  movement 
toward  repose.  A  few  called  it  pagan  verse,  not  dis- 
cerning the  unity  of  its  theme  or  its  fidelity  to  the  title  — 
"A  View  of  Death"  —  not  of  life  or  immortality.  He 
simply  restricted  himself  to  his  topic,  without  even 
touching  upon  the  hopeful  reflections  about  the  future  in 


/( 


2o6  American  Literature 

which  another  would  have  taken  refuge.  "With  all  the 
tokens  of  genius  in  it  the  verse  has  the  chill  of  November, 
and  the  sky  must  have  been  cold  and  the  trees  bare  when 
it  was  written.  Besides,  the  author  had  been  reading 
Blair  and  Porteus  and  Kirke  White  on  death  and  the 
grave.  It  seems  like  the  last  note  of  a  New  England 
druid  bard  prolonging  a  refrain  from  previous  centuries, 
but  in  a  strain  of  which  the  province  had  never  dreamed, 
and  to  which,  it  must  be  said,  the  poet  himself  never 
quite  attained  again. 

But  he  wrote  other  poems  that  readers  like  better  than 
this  requiem  of  the  universe.  And  in  them  all  is  the 
A  Poet  of  ^^^®  °^  nature,  struck  by  a  sympathetic  ob- 
Nature.  scrver  —  not  of  her  gracious  moods  alone,  but 

of  the  severe  and  fateful  as  well.  Out  of  them  all,  how- 
ever, he  drew  lessons  of  truth  or  beauty  or  morals.  He 
finds  the  law  of  guidance  in  the  flight  of  the  lone  water- 
fowl across  the  December  sky,  and  of  hope  in  the  fringed 
gentian  blossoming  on  the  border  of  winter.  The  "  Forest 
Hymn,"  the  "  Death  of  the  Flowers,"  the  "  Song  of  the 
Lover,"  and  others  longer  or  shorter  are  charged  with  the 
bloom  of  summer  and  the  frosts  of  winter  and  tinted  with 
hues  of  spring  and  autumn.  He  inclines  to  the  latter 
with  the  sober  inheritance  from  a  Puritan  ancestry  and 
writes  : 

"  The  melancholy  days  are  come,  the  saddest  of  the  year, 
Of  wailing  winds  and  naked  woods  and  meadows  brown  and  sere." 

Yet  into  "  The  Little  People  of  the  Snow  "  he  has  put 
a  sympathetic  strain,  such  as  is  not  always  found  with 
eulogists  of  winter,  and  never  with  shivering  grumblers 
about  it.  But  then,  he  survived  the  rigors  of  twenty 
Cummington  winters  before  he  went  to  New  York  and 


The  Knickerbocker  Group  207 

the  sultriness  of  as  many  summers,  and  thereupon  could 
also  write : 

"  The  quiet  August  noon  has  come, 
A  slumbrous  silence  fills  the  sky ; 
The  fields  are  still,  the  woods  are  dumb ; 
In  glassy  sleep  the  waters  lie." 

Open  the  volume  of  one  hundred  and  sixteen  poems 
anywhere,  and  some  phase  of  nature  is  presented,  usually 
in  her  quiet  majesty.  Sometimes  patriotic  and  national 
strains  appear,  as  in  the  "  Song  of  Marion's  Men,"  "  The 
Green  Mountain  Boys,"  "  Our  Country's  Call,"  and  "  0 
Mother  of  a  Mighty  Eace,"  but  the  return  is  speedy  to 
''The  White-Footed  Deer,"  "The  Hunter  of  the  Prairies," 
and  "  The  Death  of  the  Flowers."  He  is  preeminently 
the  poet  of  woods  and  waters,  of  earth  and  sky,  of  sum- 
mer and  winter,  of  the  times  and  seasons,  the  days  and 
the  years. 

There  is  no  room  to  speak  of  the  vocation  of  his  life  as 
an  editor,  which  he  pursued  from  his  thirtieth  year,  when 
he  came  to  New  York  in  1825  as  a  literary  adventurer. 
His  connection  for  fifty  years  with  its  principal  paper, 
the  "  Evening  Post,"  belongs  to  th«  history  of  journalism, 
and  is  as  remarkable  as  his  avocation  of  poet.  It  was  the 
latter  that  he  loved  best;  as  a  poet  he  wished  to  be 
known.  But  he  never  allowed  one  pursuit  to  interfere 
with  the  other.  The  city  and  his  office  were  for  the 
editor;  the  retreat  at  "Eoslyn"  for  the  poet  when  the 
day's  work  was  done.  In  this  way  he  kept  the  inheri- 
tance of  his  youth  until  fourscore  years  of  labor  in  the 
great  city  and  in  the  greater  nation  had  passed  over  him. 
In  a  sense  he  remained  a  New  Englander  to  the  last  in 
the  seclusion  of  his  editorial  room  and  in  the  retirement  of 


2o8  American  Literature 

his  Long  Island  country  house.     He  was  always  lifting 

up  his  eyes  to  the  Hampshire  hills,  whence  came   his 

strength  of  poetic  inspiration,  and  whither  at  length  he 

used  to  return  every  summer  to  the  home  of  his  youth. 

Bryant's  verse  will   always  have  its  own  charm   for 

New  Englanders  and  for  their  descendants  wherever  they 

may  live.     They  love  the  moods  of  nature  with  which  the 

fathers  played  and  fought  hy  turns.     The  viking  hlood  in 

their  veins  still  makes  them  sing : 

"  The  winds  from  off  the  Norseman  hills 
Do  shriek  a  fearsome  song  ; 
There 's  music  in  the  shrieking  winds 
That  blow  my  bark  along." 

Besides,  there  is  in  his  poems  the  flower  of  that  imagi- 
nation which,  in  spite  of  his  pretended  indifference,  was 
in  the  Puritan's  soul.  It  finally  blossomed  out  early  in 
the  last  century  like  a  crocus  on  the  sunny  edge  of  a 
snow-drift  in  northwestern  Massachusetts.  It  revelled  in 
the  solemn,  the  sublime,  the  severe,  as  the  forefathers 
had  for  two  hundred  years.  Moreover,  the  first  eminent 
poet  had  all  their  conscientiousness  in  his  performance  of 
his  task,  even  if  he  did  break  with  their  Calvinism.  His 
measure  is  exact,  his  rhyme  is  perfect,  and,  more  than  all, 
his  moral  tone  is  without  a  flaw.  Strength  and  health 
are  in  his  verse.  Those  wiU  read  it  whose  mental  consti- 
tution can  stand  the  north  wind,  and  who 

"  In  the  love  of  nature  hold 
Communion  with  her  visible  forms ; 
The  hills  rock-ribbed  and  ancient  as  the  8un  ;  the  vales 
Stretching  in  pensive  quietness  between  ; 
The  venerable  woods  —  rivers  that  move 
In  majesty  and  the  complaining  brooks 
That  make  the  meadows  green  ;  and  poured  round  all, 
Old  ocean's  gray  and  melancholy  waste." 


The  Knickerbocker  Group  209 

Bryant  had  his  limitations,  as  every  writer  has  who 
contributes  to  a  nation's  literature  without  attempting 
everything  in  it.  He  did  not  aspire  to  an  epic,  being 
content  to  make  a  good  translation  of  Homer.  He  did 
not  pretend  to  be  an  orator,  although  he  could  deliver 
just  and  noble  eulogies  upon  his  early  contemporaries  and 
others.  Beyond  the  narrow  compass  of  his  nature-songs 
he  did  not  often  venture,  but  within  it  he  commanded  the 
earliest  recognition  of  American  verse  abroad,  and  won  a 
permanent  place  among  the  poets  of  clear  vision,  calm 
contemplation,  and  profound  sympathy  with  every  mood 
of  the  natural  world  and  every  manifestation  of  its  beauty 
and  its  power. 

The  solemn  undertone  heard  in  "  Thanatopsis,"  the  first 
of  his  verse,  is  audible  in  the  last  of  it,  "  The  Flood  of 
Years,"  as  in  much  that  falls  between. 

*^  A  mighty  Hauid,  from  an  exhaustless  Urn, 
Pours  forth  the  never-ending  Flood  of  Years 
Among  the  nations.     How  the  rushing  waves 
Bear  all  before  them  I    On  their  foremost  edge, 
And  there  alone,  is  Life.     The  Present  there 
Tosses  and  foams,  and  fills  the  air  with  roar 
Of  mingled  noises.     There  are  they  who  toil, 
And  they  who  strive,  and  they  who  feast,  and  they 
Who  hurry  to  and  fro.     The  sturdy  swain  — 
Woodman  and  delver  with  the  spade  —  is  there 
And  busy  artisan  beside  his  bench  ; 
And  pallid  student  with  his  written  roll, 
A  moment  on  the  mounting  billow  seen. 
The  flood  sweeps  over  them  and  they  are  gone. 

Lo  !  wider  grows  the  stream  —  a  sea-like  flood 
Saps  earth's  walled  cities  ;  massive  palaces 
Crumble  before  it ;  fortresses  and  towers 
Dissolve  in  the  swift  waters  ;  populous  realms 
Swept  by  the  torrent  see  their  ancient  tribes 
14 


2IO  American  Literature 

Engulfed  and  lost  ;  their  very  languages 
Stifled,  and  never  to  be  uttered  more. 

What  is  there  beyond ; 
Hear  what  the  wise  and  good  have  said.     Beyond 
That  belt  of  darkness,  still  the  Years  roll  on 
More  gently,  but  with  not  less  mighty  sweep. 
They  gather  up  again  and  softly  bear 
All  the  sweet  lives  that  late  were  overwhelmed 
And  lost  to  sight.     ... 

So  they  pass 
From  stage  to  stage  along  the  shining  course 
Of  that  bright  river,  broadening  like  a  sea. 

A  Present  in  whose  reign  the  eternal  Change 
That  waits  on  growth  and  action  shall  proceed 
With  everlasting  Concord  hand  in  hand." 


XIX 

JAMES  FENIMORE  COOPER 

A  New  Jeksey  judge  who  had  acquired  tracts  of  land 
among  and  around  the  sources  of   the  Susquehanna  in 
central  New  York,  built  a  stately  mansion  on 
the   shore   of   Otsego  lake   and  removed  his  and  Literary 

°  _  Ventures. 

family  thither  in  1790.  His  son  James,  then 
a  year  old,  grew  up  in  this  wilderness  in  the  midst  of  a 
sort  of  baronial  grandeur  among  Indians,  trappers,  and 
the  dependents  of  a  landed  proprietor.  He  learned  many 
things  not  put  down  in  the  school  books  and  other  books 
which  were  in  his  father's  library,  things  which  were  to  be 
of  value  to  himself,  and  of  great  interest  to  others  when  he 
should  begin  to  tell  about  them.  The  lore  of  woods  and 
waters,  the  craft  of  savage  and  beast,  the  rival  cunning  of 
an  invading  race,  were  lessons  which  were  acquired  with- 
out urging.  In  seventeen  years  his  education  in  wood- 
craft was  finished,  with  some  knowledge  of  books  in  three 
years  at  Yale.  Then  he  went  to  sea  and  learned  something 
about  its  mysteries  and  more  about  ships  and  sailors. 
Later,  as  a  naval  officer  stationed  on  Lake  Ontario,  he 
came  to  know  the  ways  of  the  inland  seas.  Next  he 
married,  stayed  three  years  longer  in  Cooperstown,  and 
went  to  Mamaroneck  to  live  in  quiet  contentment  within 
reach  of  Knickerbocker  friends  until  he  was  seized  with 
the  notion,  at  the  age  of  twenty-nine,  that  he  could  write  a 
better  novel  than  the  one  he  happened  to  be  reading.     He 

211 


212  American  Literature 

began  to  write  "  Precaution."  If  he  had  taken  a  little 
himself  he  would  not  have  written  the  dreary  story  of 
English  society  life,  about  which  he  then  knew  nothing. 
But  at  that  time  all  American  authors  had  to  do  imitative 
work  before  they  began  to  quarry  the  wealth  of  material 
close  at  hand.  In  this  very  year  of  1820  Irving  was 
writing  the  "Sketch  Book,"  half  English  in  character. 
Cooper  was  next  urged  to  follow  Scott,  who  had  just  fin- 
ished the  historical  "Ivanhoe."  The  outcome  was  the 
"  Spy,"  a  novel  of  the  Eevolution,  already  beginning  to  be 
historical  after  forty  years.  The  scene  was  laid  in  the 
writer's  neighborhood,  the  old  neutral  ground  between 
two  armies,  plundered  by  both.  The  book  was  a  great 
success  at  home  and  abroad,  in  England  as  well  as  Amer- 
ica. Translated  into  French,  it  found  its  way  into  other 
languages  and  many  lands,  into  Persia,  Arabia,  and  the 
far  East.  The  new  nation  had  now  a  novelist  of  its  own 
to  portray  its  new  life  to  all  the  world. 

This  was  stiU  more  evident  when  "  The  Pioneers  "  fol- 
lowed two  years  afterward.  This  time  the  author  worked 
Stories  of  another  field  with  which  he  was  even  more 
the  Border,  familiar  —  the  wilderness,  where  he  had  grown 
up.  Harvey  Birch,  the  spy,  was  succeeded  by  Natty 
Bumppo,  the  backwoodsman,  appealing  to  that  aboriginal 
love  of  adventure  and  of  the  forest  which  clings  to  every  boy 
like  a  heritage  of  the  primeval  life  of  the  race.  It  was  next 
to  returning  to  the  wigwam  and  the  chase  and  the  tribal 
feud.  There  had  been  nothing  like  it  in  Europe  since  the 
stone  age.  Here  it  was  the  experience  of  a  young  writer 
who  was  throwing  only  a  thin  tissue  of  romance  over  the 
trapper  and  the  savage  he  had  seen  a  hundred  times. 
The  story  was  as  good  as  true  and  as  interesting  as  fie- 


James  Fenimore  Cooper  213 

tion,  and  always  a  favorite  of  the  author's.  Sometimes 
descriptive  padding  blocked  the  progress  of  events,  but 
impatient  readers  early  learn  the  skipping  trick,  sometimes 
to  their  loss  and  again  to  their  gain.  But  Cooper  had 
created  or  translated  from  life  a  great  character,  of  whom 
he  made  the  best  and  the  most,  running  him  through  the 
series  of  five  romances  which  bear  the  name  of  "  Leather- 
stocking."  He  is  the  primitive  American,  evolved  from 
two  centuries'  contact  of  the  early  colonist  and  adventurer 
with  the  wilderness.  He  has  taken  on  its  color  and 
become  a  part  of  its  life,  a  competitor  with  the  wild  beast 
and  wild  Indian  in  the  struggle  for  existence,  without  being 
degraded  to  the  level  of  either.  The  nobler  teachings  of 
nature  have  fallen  upon  a  white  soul  full  of  native  justice 
and  true  nobility  until  a  type  of  humanity  is  produced 
which  might  be  taken  as  pristine  in  its  native  simplicity 
and  honesty.  It  is  barely  possible  that  &  travestied  impres- 
sion of  this  original  creation  has  survived  in  the  foreign 
mind,  making  it  think  of  all  Americans  as  backwoodsmen, 
with  more  or  less  of  acquired  guile,  whose  present  counter- 
parts are  the  spectacular  creatures  of  a  wild  west  show. 
This  incongruous  specimen  should  be  distinguished  from 
Cooper's  frontiersman.  Also  his  Indian  from  those  seen 
at  a  railway  station  on  the  plains.  The  old  charge  that 
he  idealized  the  red  proprietors  of  the  woods  and  waters 
may  be  partly  met  by  saying  that  the  race  has  not  been 
improved  by  rum  or  the  ethics  of  traders  and  the  agents 
of  a  paternal  government.  He  doubtless  had  his  unlovely 
streaks,  but  the  early  education  furnished  by  the  British- 
American  settler  developed  the  vices  of  both  races  in  a 
fertile  soiL 

To  learn  what  was  Cooper's  restoration  of  the  aboriginal 


214  American  Literature 

type  the  five  Leatlierstocking  tales  will  be  read,  and  in 
the  following  order  if  the  career  of  the  woodsman  is  to  be 
traced  to  the  end :  "  The  Deerslayer,"  "  The  Last  of  the 
Mohicans,"  "  The  Pathfinder,"  "  The  Pioneers,"  and  "  The 
Prairie,"  although  this  is  not  the  order  in  which  they  were 
written. 

When   Cooper  had   gratified   his   love   of    nature    by 
picturing  life  upon  the  frontier  in  "  The  Pio- 

Sea-Stories.  ,,        .  - 

neers,  he  turned  to  his  recollections  of  sea- 
faring exploits  and  wrote  "  The  Pilot,"  impelled,  it  is 
said,  by  Scott's  blunders  in  his  "  Pirate."  Two  fresh 
fields  had  been  broken  w^hen  he  entered  upon  one  old  as 
the  sea,  and  cultivated  ever  since  Ulysses  sailed  the 
"  unharvested  deep,"  from  which,  however,  a  large  crop 
of  stories  has  been  taken  from  Homer's  time  onward. 
But  there  was  enough  left  in  its  depths  and  on  its  sur- 
face to  make  a  most  successful  story  in  the  hands  of  a 
genuine  sailor,  as  Cooper  was.  A  large  and  breezy  sort 
of  man,  he  loved  the  wide  ocean  next  to  the  boundless 
forest.  He  was  not  always  finically  careful  about  details 
of  composition,  but  he  made  no  landsman's  mistakes 
about  ships'  rigging  and  sailors'  lingo.  A  man-of-war 
was  in  his  day  a  thing  of  beauty  when  under  full  sail,  if 
not  so  terrific  in  battle  as  its  hardshell  successor.  The 
romance  of  the  engine-room  is  now  the  popular  topic  on 
seven  seas,  but  Cooper's  wing-and-wing  fancies  will  always 
people  a  receding  age  with  a  race  of  fighting  sailors  who 
belonged  to  a  perilous  time  in  our  early  history.  Their 
conflicts  with  a  great  maritime  power  can  best  be  under- 
stood in  the  pages  of  "  The  Pilot"  and  "  The  Eed  Eover." 
In  the  departments  of  sea  and  frontier  life  Cooper  became 
our  first  historical  novelist,  having  Scott  only  for  a  rival, 


James  Fenimore  Cooper  215 

and  that  without  being  his  imitator.  On  British  ground 
their  books  sold  side  by  side,  and  had  the  same  translators 
into  foreign  tongues.  Each  in  his  own  way  brought  great 
credit  to  his  country  and  great  renown  to  himself.  But  it 
was  in  Sir  Walter's  own  Edinburgh  and  in  its  "  Keview  " 
that  the  words  were  written :  "  The  empire  of  the  sea  is 
conceded  to  Cooper  by  acclamation." 

Every  writer  must  have  his  ups  and  downs,  and  Cooper's 
alternated  with  customary  regularity  or  irregularity.  When 
he  attempted  to  repeat  the  success  of  his  first  uneven 
American  novel,  "  The  Spy,"  in  « Lionel  Lin-  ^"^ 
coin  "  he  did  not  attain  eminence.  Not  through  any  lack 
of  painstaking,  for  he  wearied  himself  in  preparatory 
research,  only  to  add  one  more  instance  in  proof  of  the 
fact  that  a  work  may  be  overdone  for  the  popular  taste. 
Eeaders  do  not  mind  a  little  margin  for  history  to  work 
loosely  in  when  it  is  embodied  in  a  story,  and  especially 
as  in  good  histories  there  are  conflicting  accoimts  of  the 
same  occurrence.  At  any  rate,  the  novelist  has  the 
painter's  license  to  make  history  picturesque  and  events  to 
occur  in  the  order  they  should  have  happened  for  the  best 
dramatic  effect.  A  genuine  artist  does  not  hesitate  to  set 
to  one  side  an  obtrusive  tree  in  the  middle  foreground  of 
his  landscape.  Why  should  not  a  good  novelist  follow 
his  example  ?  Darwin  has  called  the  slaying  of  a  beautiful 
theory  by  an  ugly  fact  one  of  the  tragedies  of  life.  There- 
fore the  romancer  will  not  be  too  considerate  of  inconvenient 
truth  when  he  is  following  his  craft.  A  regard  for  exact- 
ness troubled  Cooper  less  than  his  departure  from  his  own 
special  stamping  ground  into  a  territory  which  was  more 
successfully  explored  by  the  introspective  novelists  of  a 
later  day.    His  was  the  season  of  the  outer  world  of  action, 


2i6  American  Literature 

whether  of  chivalry  and  border  wars,  with  Scott,  or  of 
the  forest  and  the  sea,  with  himself.  What  a  person's 
thoughts,  emotions  and  motives  were  was  interpreted  by 
his  actions.  To  describe  these  significantly  was  the  high 
attainment  of  the  romancer  of  the  first  quarter  of  the 
century.     Hawthorne  and  George  Eliot  were  later  arrivals. 

In  "  The  Last  of  the  Mohicans,"  1826,  Cooper  picked 
himself  up  again,  being  on  his  own  ground  once  more, 
hand  in  hand  with  Leatherstocking,  now  in  the  manly 
prime  of  a  forester,  than  whom  no  finer  woodland  char- 
acter has  been  created  since  the  day  of  the  mythical  Eobin 
Hood.  Nor  was  the  American  specimen  an  outlaw  and  a 
princely  thief,  as  became  the  Saxon  under  Norman  op- 
pression. Instead,  he  had  every  homely  virtue  that  might 
adorn  a  nobleman  of  nature  unspoiled  by  contact  with 
scoundrels  of  the  settlements  or  the  town.  With  this 
book  Cooper  achieved  his  greatest  success  at  home  and 
abroad  among  the  multitudes  who  read  what  they  like 
and  turn  a  deaf  ear  to  the  charmer  critics,  charm  they 
never  so  wisely.  These  did  by  no  means  agree  among 
themselves,  and  thereby  made  good  their  title.  As  a  rule, 
they  put  their  ears  to  the  ground  to  catch  the  rumble  and 
the  grumble  of  British  criticism,  by  which  to  be  guided 
in  their  own.  They  could  not  believe  that  America  had 
produced  anything  equal  to  the  Waverley  novels  until 
Germany  had  spoken  with  the  authority  of  a  bystander 
reading  both  authors  in  the  same  English  language.  It 
was  as  likely  to  estimate  Scott  by  Cooper  as  Americans 
were  to  gauge  Cooper  by  Scott. 

At  this  point  the  successful  novelist  was  able  to  go 
abroad  for  seven  years,  and  incidentally  to  enjoy  the 
tribute  which  was  freely  accorded  by  foreigners  who  had 


James  Fenimore  Cooper  217 

confidence  in  their  own  estimates  of  literary  values,  even 
if  they  did  not  enrich  the  author  by  a  share  in  the  profits 
on  pirated  editions  of  his  works.  Yet  they  gave  i„  porcign 
him  cordial  welcome,  and  would  have  made  a  ^^'^*' 
lion  of  him  if  he  had  permitted  the  show.  But  natural 
scenery  was  more  attractive  to  him  than  social  displays, 
and  he  found  his  enjoyment  in  the  sunny  skies  of  Italy, 
the  mountains  of  Switzerland,  and  the  old  German  cities. 
Meantime  his  pen  was  busy  with  "  The  Prairie,"  "  The  lied 
Kover,"  "  The  Wept  of  Wishton  Wish,"  and  "  The  Water 
Witch."  Of  these  "  The  Ked  Eover  "  was  most  approved, 
surpassing  "  The  Pilot "  even  in  its  interest  to  lovers  of  sea 
stories.  Imitations  of  these  stories  had  been  springing  up 
after  his  first  venture,  like  catboats  following  afar  in  the 
wake  of  a  racer.  His  own  books,  however,  were  multi- 
plying faster  than  all  their  imitations,  being  published  as 
soon  as  written  in  over  thirty  different  places  in  Europe, 
and  read  as  far  east  as  Egypt,  Jerusalem,  and  Ispahan. 

It  was  now  1830,  the  high-tide  of  his  prosperity.  Then 
it  turned  to  the  ebb.  The  story  of  its  decline  is  long  and 
tedious.     It  began  here  before   his   residence 

-I-.  rrn  1  •       •  •  -I      Controversy. 

m  Europe.  There  his  imperious  temper  and 
ardent  patriotism  could  not  brook  the  evil  speech  against 
the  young  republic  which  he  everywhere  heard.  He 
became  the  champion  of  its  new  ideas  and  liberties,  and 
was  assailed  as  its  volunteer  representative.  On  the  other 
hand,  there  were  ways  of  his  countrymen  which  he  found 
difficult  to  defend,  and  told  them  so,  exasperating  them  in 
turn.  He  thus  contrived  to  place  himself  between  two 
fires,  and  made  enemies  by  thousands  in  two  hemispheres. 
Imperialists  hated  him  for  his  republicanism,  and  freemen 
were  ready  to  crush  him  for  daring  to  say  that  they  were 


21 8  American  Literature 

not  time's  noblest  offspring.  Accordingly  both  sides 
pounced  upon  him  and  his  books.  It  was  more  difficult 
to  injure  his  work  than  himself,  for  the  praise  of  his 
romance  had  been  too  general  and  unqualified  to  be  reversed 
all  at  once.  So  the  attack  was  made  personal,  and  critical 
too,  so  far  as  consistency  would  permit,  or  inconsistency, 
for  that  matter.  Newspapers  ran  wild  in  a  field  of  slander, 
whose  borders  had  not  been  defined  in  the  direction  of 
libel.  Cooper  determined  to  have  the  boundary  line  run, 
and  prosecuted  one  and  another  with  greater  success  than 
could  have  been  expected  had  not  offences  been  too  glaring 
to  be  denied. 

Meantime  he  went  on  castigating  foreigners  and  the 
home-bom  with  his  versatile  pen.  In  the  "  Letters  of  a 
And  Traveling  Bachelor,"  "Eesidence  in   Europe," 

Criticism.  "Letter  to  His  Countrymen,"  "Homeward 
Bound,"  and  "Home  as  Found,"  he  is  the  censor  of  his 
native  land,  and  shared  the  hatred  which  follows  that 
official,  especially  when  self-appointed.  He  was  not  fitted 
to  lessen  the  inevitable  unpleasantness  attached  to  his 
assumed  mission.  His  own  arrogance  and  violence  pro- 
voked a  similar  spirit  in  others,  which  retorted  in  virulent 
personal  abuse.  This  was  checked  in  its  public  expression 
by  lawsuits,  which  had  the  good  effect  of  limiting  the 
license  of  the  press  in  personal  matters,  but  the  rancor  of 
his  enemies  was  undiminished  for  years.  It  was  fostered 
by  positions  which  he  took  in  his  "  Naval  History  of  the 
United  States,"  contrary  to  the  popular  view  of  the  real 
hero  in  the  battle  of  Lake  Erie,  but  fortified  by  subsequent 
decisions  in  arbitration.  In  this  case,  as  in  others.  Cooper 
was  not  so  far  from  right  as  from  urbanity  and  suavity 
in  maintaining  it.    Still,  it  must  be  conceded  that  he  had 


James  Fenimore  Cooper  219 

not  much  encouragement  to  cultivate  these  virtues.  Nor 
had  he  much  inclination.  Hence  it  was  "Athanasius 
against  the  world "  once  more.  He  more  than  held  his 
own,  but  the  record  of  the  contest  does  not  add  to  his 
literary  reputation. 

It  may  be  guessed  that  the  quality  of  his  work  was  not 
improved.  That  he  turned  out  "  The  Pathfinder  "  and 
"  The  Deerslayer "  in  the  midst  of  these  broils  indicates 
the  ability  of  disciplined  genius  to  abstract  itself  from  the 
disturbances  incident  to  life  or  sometimes  to  its  own 
eccentricities.  But  while  in  these  two  books  he  repeated 
his  former  successes,  the  average  of  his  performances  was 
lower,  especially  if  his  controversial  writings  are  included 
in  the  general  estimate.  It  was  when  he  turned  to  the 
forest  or  the  sea  and  recalled  the  associations  of  his 
earlier  and  happier  days  that  he  appeared  to  forget  his 
enemies  and  his  critics,  and  to  run  free  with  the  sailor, 
the  trapper,  and  the  Indian. 

In  these  thirty  volumes  of  creations  he  has  had  plenty 
of  imitators,  but  no  superior  or  equal.  A  swarm  of  cheap 
American  tales  of  the  frontier,  the  prairie,  and 

,.,,,.,        Popularity. 

the  mountains,  overspreading  the  land  m  the 
last  half  century  like  grasshoppers,  shows  that  the  popular 
appetite  for  aboriginal  adventure  is  always  keen  and  often 
satisfied  with  indifferent  fare.  In  the  present  day  of  the 
society  novel,  includiug  all  its  grades,  there  is  less  chance 
for  earlier  and  less  artistic  productions  to  catch  the  gen- 
eral eye,  but  the  American  boy  —  and  he  is  sometimes 
well  along  in  years  —  will  have  his  hours  when  he  will 
be  irresistibly  impelled  to  take  to  the  woods  or  to  go  to 
sea.  Next  to  doing  either  is  to  read  Cooper.  The  un- 
critical age  of  youth  is  the  best  time  to  read  him.     The 


220  American  Literature 

country  itself  was  in  its  youth  when  he  took  it  by  storm, 
and,  it  was  a  boyish  quarrel  that  alternated  with  boyish 
enthusiasm.  But  now  and  then  there  will  be  an  old  boy 
who  will  turn  to  the  romances  which  were  the  delight 
of  his  youth  to  see  if  there  is  still  in  them  the  odor  of 
pines  and  of  the  salt  sea,  and  if  they  will  bring  back  memo- 
ries of  bright  days  when  his  highest  ambition  was  to  roam 
the  woods  with  a  rifle  or  to  sail  the  Spanish  main.  There- 
fore our  earliest  novelist  who  came  to  stay  is  still  a 
welcome  guest,  more  and  more  as  unhappy  controversy 
recedes,  and  as  the  disposition  to  recall  early  features  of 
American  life  grows  stronger  and  stronger. 

A  few  paragraphs  from  "The  Last  of  the  Mohicans," 
will  bring  back  memories  of  the  books  which  used  to 
stir  the  aboriginal  blood  that  runs  in  boys. 

*•  Throughout  the  whole  of  these  trying  moments  Uncas  alone 
had  preserved  his  serenity.  He  looked  on  the  preparations  with 
a  steady  eye,  and  when  the  tormentors  came  to  seize  him  he  met 
them  with  a  firm  and  upright  attitude.  One  among  them, 
if  possible  more  fierce  and  savage  than  his  fellows,  seized  the 
hunting  shirt  of  the  young  warrior,  and  at  a  single  effort  tore 
it  from  his  body.  Then,  with  a  yell  of  frantic  pleasure,  he 
leaped  toward  his  unresisting  victim,  and  prepared  to  lead  him 
to  the  stake.  But,  at  that  moment,  when  he  appeared  most 
a  stranger  to  the  feelings  of  humanity,  the  purpose  of  the 
savage  was  arrested  as  suddenly  as  if  a  supernatural  agency  had 
interposed  in  behalf  of  Uncas.  The  eyeballs  of  the  Delaware 
seemed  to  start  from  their  sockets ;  his  mouth  opened,  and  his 
whole  form  became  frozen  in  an  attitude  of  amazement.  Rais- 
ing his  hand  with  a  slow  and  regulated  motion,  he  pointed  with 
a  finger  to  the  bosom  of  the  captive.  His  companions  crowded 
about  him  in  wonder,  and  every  eye  was,  like  his  own,  fag- 
toned  intently  on  the  figure  of  a  small  tortoise,  beautifully 
tattooed  on  the  breast  of  the  prisoner  in  a  light  blue  tint. 


James  Fenimore  Cooper  221 

"For  a  single  instant  Uncas  enjoyed  his  triumph,  smiling 
calmly  on  the  scene.  Then  motioning  the  crowd  away  with 
a  high  and  haughty  sweep  of  his  arm,  he  advanced  in  front 
of  the  nation  with  the  air  of  a  king,  and  spoke  in  a  voice  louder 
than  the  murmur  of  admiration  that  ran  through  the  multitude. 

"  *  Men  of  the  Lenni  Lenape,'  he  cried,  *  my  race  upholds  the 
earth  !  Your  feeble  tribe  stands  on  my  shell !  What  fire, 
that  a  Delaware  can  light,  would  burn  the  child  of  my  fathers  ? 
The  blood  that  came  of  such  a  stock  would  smother  your  flames  I 
Mine  is  the  grandfather  of  nations  ! ' 

"  *  Who  art  thou  ] '  demanded  Tamenund,  rising  at  the  startling 
tones  he  heard,  more  than  at  any  meaning  conveyed  by  the 
language  of  the  prisoner. 

"  *  Uncas,  the  son  of  Chingachgook,'  answered  the  captive, 
modestly,  turning  from  the  nation,  and  bending  his  head  in 
reverence  to  the  other's  character  and  years ;  '  a  son  of  the 
Great  Unamis  [Turtle.]  ' 

"  *  The  hour  of  Tamenund  [Tammany]  is  nigh  ! '  exclaimed 
the  sage.  *The  day  is  come  at  last  to  the  night;  I  thank  the 
Manitto  that  one  is  here  to  fill  my  place  at  the  council  fire. 
Uncas,  the  child  of  Uncas  is  found !  Let  the  eyes  of  a  dying 
eagle  gaze  on  the  rising  sun.*" 

The  following  abridgment  will  remind  some  readers 
of  "  The  Pilot "  which  filled  their  young  heads  with  dreams 
of  adventure  on  the  high  seas. 

" '  ITow  is  the  time  to  watch  her  closely,  Mr.  Griffith,'  the 
pilot  cried.  *  Here  we  get  the  true  tide  and  the  real  danger. 
Place  the  quartermaster  of  your  ship  in  those  chains,  and  let 
an  officer  stand  by  him  and  see  that  he  gives  us  the  right 
water.' 

"  *  I  will  take  that  office  on  myself,*  said  the  captain ;  *  pass 
a  light  into  the  weather  main-chains.* 

"  '  Stand  by  your  braces  !  *  exclaimed  the  pilot,  with  startling 
quickness.     '  Heave  away  that  lead  ! ' 

"  These  preparations  taught  the  crew  to  expect  the  crisis,  and 


222  American  Literature 

every  officer  and  man  stood  in  fearful  silence  at  his  assigned 
station,  awaiting  the  issue  of  the  trial. 

"  While  this  deep  expectation  pervaded  the  frigate,  the  pierc- 
ing cry  of  the  leadsman  as  he  called,  *By  the  mark  seven,' 
rose  above  the  tempest,  crossed  over  the  decks,  and  appeared  to 
pass  away  to  the  leeward,  borne  on  the  blast  like  the  warnings 
of  some  water-spirit. 

'*  *  'T  is  well,'  returned  the  pilot  calmly  ;  *  try  it  again.' 

"  The  short  pause  was  succeeded  by  another  cry,  '  And  a  half 
five.' 

"  '  She  shoals  !  she  shoals  ! '  exclaimed  Griffith ;  *  keep  her 
a  good  full' 

"  The  third  call,  *  By  the  deep  four,'  was  followed  by  a  prompt 
direction  from  the  stranger  to  tack. 

"  The  vessel  rose  slowly  from  the  inclined  position  into  which 
she  had  been  forced  by  the  tempest,  and  the  sails  were  shaking 
violently,  as  if  to  release  themselves  from  their  confinement, 
while  the  ship  stemmed  the  billows,  when  the  well-known  voice 
of  the  sailing-master  was  heard  from  the  forecastle  : 

**  ^  Breakers !  breakers,  dead  ahead  ! ' 

*'  This  appalling  sound  seemed  yet  to  be  lingering  about  when 
a  second  voice  cried  : 

^' '  Breakers  on  our  lee  bow  ! '  .  .  .  . 

"  There  was  no  time  for  reply ;  the  ship  had  been  rapidly  run- 
ning into  the  wind,  and  as  the  efforts  of  the  crew  were  paralyzed 
by  the  contradictory  orders  they  had  heard,  she  gradually  lost 
her  way,  and  in  a  few  seconds  all  her  sails  were  taken  aback. 

"  Before  the  crew  understood  the  situation  the  pilot  applied  the 
trumpet  to  his  mouth,  and  in  a  voice  that  rose  above  the  tem- 
pest, thundered  forth  his  orders.  The  helm  was  kept  fast,  the 
head-yards  swung  up  heavily  against  the  wind,  and  the  vessel 
was  soon  whirling  round  on  her  heel  with  a  retrograde  move- 
ment. .  .  .  For  an  hour  longer  there  was  a  fearful  struggle  for 
their  preservation,  the  channel  becoming  at  each  step  more  com- 
plicated. ...  At  length  the  ship  reached  a  point  where  she 
appeared  to  be  rushing  directly  into  the  jaws  of  destruction, 
when  suddenly  her  course  was  changed,  and  her  head  receded 


James  Fenlmore  Cooper  223 

rapidly  from  the  wind,  and  quick  as  thought  the  frigate  was 
gliding  along  the  channel  before  the  wind.  .  .  . 

"  The  lieutenant  grasped  the  hand  of  the  other  as  he  said  : 
" '  You  have  this  night  proved  yourself  a  faithful  pilot,  and 
such  a  seaman  as  the  world  cannot  equal.* " 

The  naval  battles  in  this  book  and  in  the  "  Eed 
Eover"are  interesting  reading  alongside  Spanish- American 
accounts  of  turret-gun,  armor-plate  warfare  a  century  and 
a  quarter  later.  Methods  have  changed,  but  results  are 
relatively  similar.  Will  the  steel  volcanoes  afford  as 
much  inspiration  to  the  coming  Cooper  as  the  bristling 
hulls  and  clouds  of  canvas  did  to  our  first  novelist  of  the 
sea? 


XX 

NATHANIEL  P.  WILLIS  AND  BAYARD  TAYLOR 

There  are  names  in  the  history  of  any  literature  which 
become  faint  echoes  of  their  former  importance.  Once 
they  were  shouted  by  the  multitude ;  now  they  are  recalled 
as  having  a  half-familiar  sound  and  suggesting  further 
inquiry. 

If  a  popular  vote  had  been  taken  in  the  second  quarter  of 
the  century  for  the  most  widely  admired  writer  of  emotional 
Early  verse  and  of  light  and  graceful  prose,  Nathaniel 

Promise.  Parker  Willis  would  have  received  the  ma- 
jority of  suffrages.  He  was  another  New  Englander  who 
drifted  into  the  literary  coterie  of  New  York  in  the  years 
when  it  was  the  centre  of  attraction  for  young  writers. 
Born  in  Portland,  Maine,  with  the  advantages  of  a  pub- 
lisher for  a  grandfather  and  the  editor  of  a  religious  paper 
for  his  father,  the  young  student  at  Yale  illustrated  the  law 
of  heredity  in  his  college  course  by  writing  poems  almost 
as  precocious  as  Bryant's  and  of  far  greater  emotional 
power.  To  be  sure,  they  were  scriptural  in  tone,  but 
tradition  has  it  that  this  was  not  due  to  an  overreligious- 
ness  on  the  part  of  the  poet  himself.  Yet  the  same  may 
be  said  of  Young's  "  Night  Thoughts,"  that  solemn  book 
over  which  our  fathers  used  to  pore  and  fall  asleep  in 
blissful  unconsciousness  of  the  somewhat  worldly-minded- 
ness  of  the  courtly  author.  Still  there  is  no  good  reason 
why  the  product  of  a  poet's  best  impulses  should  not  be 
taken  for  what  it  is  worth  to  the  reader  in  reproducing 

224 


Nathaniel  P.  Willis  and  Bayard  Taylor     225 

similar  emotions  in  Ms  own  mind.  Biography  may 
explain  literature,  but  it  need  not  necessarQy  qualify 
it.  Accordingly,  these  "  Scripture  Sketches  "of  the  college 
youth  may  be  allowed  to  stand  for  those  better  moods 
of  reflection  and  aspiration  which  alternate  with  academic 
surplusages  of  animal  spirits,  for  whose  effervescence  no 
gymnasium  was  supplied  at  Yale  in  1825.  As  offsets 
to  what  then  took  the  place  of  athletics  in  various  devices 
for  keeping  a  high  temperature  in  the  old  town  Willis 
could  write  such  verse  as  "Absalom"  and  "Jephtha's 
Daughter." 

"  The  pall  was  settled.     He  who  slept  beneath 
Was  straightened  for  the  grave ;  and  as  the  folds 
Sunk  to  the  still  proportions,  they  betray'd 
The  matchless  symmetry  of  Absalom. 
His  hair  was  yet  unshorn,  and  sUken  curls 
Were  floating  round  the  tassels  as  they  sway'd 
To  the  admitted  air,  as  glossy  now 
As  when,  in  hours  of  gentle  dalliance,  bathing 
The  snowy  fingers  of  Judea's  daughters. 
His  helm  was  at  his  feet :  his  banner,  soiled 
With  trailing  through  Jerusalem,  was  laid, 
Ee versed  beside  him :  and  the  jewell'd  hilt, 
Whose  diamonds  lit  the  passage  of  his  blade, 
Eested,  like  mockery,  on  his  cover'd  brow." 

«  The  king  stood  still 
Till  the  last  echo  died ;  then,  throwing  off 
The  sackcloth  from  his  brow,  and  laying  back 
The  pall  from  the  still  features  of  his  child. 
He  bow'd  his  head  upon  him,  and  broke  forth 
In  the  resistless  eloquence  of  woe." 

But  Jephtha's  was  the  greater  woe  for  the  daughter 

doomed  by  his  own  rash  vow : 

"  A  pallid  man 
Was  stretching  out  his  hands  to  heaven. 
As  if  he  would  pray'd,  but  had  no  words  — 
15    . 


226  American  Literature 

And  she  who  was  to  die,  the  calmest  one 
In  Israel  at  that  hour,  stood  up  alone, 
And  waited  for  the  sun  to  set.     Her  face 
Was  pale,  but  very  beautiful  —  her  lip 
Had  a  more  delicate  outline,  and  the  tint 
Was  deeper ;  but  her  countenance  was  like 
The  majesty  of  angels." 

This  is  not  MiltoniCj'to  be  sure,  but  it  is  an  improvement 
upon  the  Canaanitish  verse  of  Yale  in  the  days  of  D wight. 

Literature  did  not  offer  so  many  paths  to  a  college 
graduate  turned  loose  seventy-five  years  ago  as  in  these 


Light  Prose  ^^^^  times.  It  was  a  confident  or  desperate 
and  Verse.  youth  who  dared  to  trust  to  the  pen  for  a 
living.  Willis,  however,  had  been  commended  for  his 
college  pieces,  and  had  won  a  publisher's  prize  of  fifty 
dollars  for  the  best  gift-book  poem.  With  this  send-off 
the  recent  graduate  undertook  the  editorship  of  a  series  of 
volumes  published  by  that "  Peter  Parley  "  to  whom  sundry 
American  authors  of  distinction  owed  their  bringing  out. 
Then  the  "American  Magazine"  was  established,  to  be  finally 
merged  into  the  "  New  York  Mirror,"  to  which  Willis  con- 
tributed editorial  letters  during  two  years'  travel  in  the  old 
world.  These  "Pencilings  by  the  Way"  were  the  first 
valuable  specimens  of  the  abundant  literature  of  American 
travel,  often  more  interesting  to  the  writer  than  the  reader. 
This  writer,  however,  had  the  pencil  quality  in  his  pen, 
and  could  put  life  and  picturesqueness  iuto  worn  paths 
and  dull  statistics.  Besides,  he  was  favored  with  pass- 
ports as  an  attach^  of  the  American  minister  at  Paris, 
giving  him  access  to  courtly  circles  in  Europe  and  the 
East.  With  such  facilities  the  record  of  travel  made  by 
such  an  observer  was  a  revelation  to  those  even  who  had 
been  over  the  ground  and  a  delight  to  those  who  had  not. 


Nathaniel  P.  Willis  and  Bayard  Taylor     227 

The  sale  of  the  "  Pencilings  "  was  greatly  increased  by  a 
savage  review  in  the  "  Quarterly,"  and  a  personal  article  by 
Captain  Marryatt  occasioned  a  meeting  for  satisfaction  in 
which  Willis  came  off  best. 

Four  years  of  residence  abroad  satisfied  this  travel  and 
society  loving  American  for  a  while,  who  then  took  up  his 
abode  far  from  cities  and  men  in  his  cottage  at  Glenmary, 
on  the  Susquehanna,  where  he  wrote  the  "  Letters  from 
Under  a  Bridge."  Then  came  the  financial  reverse,  which 
in  so  many  instances  has  been  the  spur  to  easy-going  loi- 
terers along  the  highway  of  letters,  driving  him  back  to 
New  York  and  to  work  on  the  "  Corsair,"  a  weekly  journal 
which  had  the  distinction  of  employing  Thackeray  as  a 
contributor  before  he  had  grown  so  great  as  in  the  days  of 
"The  Newcomes."  This  paper  was  soon  abandoned  for 
the  "  Evening  Mirror,"  the  demands  of  which  undermined 
his  health,  resulting,  after  a  third  voyage  to  Europe,  in  the 
establishment  of  the  "  Home  Journal "  and  insuring  a  more 
moderate  pace  in  literary  labor. 

The  above  particulars  have  been  mentioned  to  illustrate 
the  life  of  a  man  of  letters  in  the  second  generation  of  the 
century.  It  was  the  period  between  the  news-letter  and 
the  journal,  with  the  permanent  magazine  in  its  present 
form  still  in  the  distance.  Whatever  was  printed  was 
necessarily  brief,  or  cut  into  short  sections  if  a  long  story 
entailing  the  reader's  impatience  or  expectancy.  A  volume 
of  such  brevities  had  usually  the  same  choppy  character, 
with  the  advantage  of  being  laid  down  and  taken  up  at 
odd  intervals,  —  a  point  in  favor  of  a  fragmentary  and 
discursive  author  like  Willis.  Yet  in  the  course  of  a  life- 
time he  produced  many  volumes.  To  read  half  of  them 
would  be  worse  than  a  waste  of  time.    People  did  not  lose 


228  American  Literature 

many  hours  together  over  them  when  they  were  published, 
since  they  came  out  for  the  most  part  in  weekly  instal- 
ments. On  the  other  hand,  if  one  were  stranded  in  the 
country  with  "  Hurrygraphs  "  or  "  Outdoors  at  Idlewild  " 
or  "  People  I  Have  Met "  or  "  Famous  Persons  and  Places  " 
for  his  only  reading,  he  would  find  more  hours  pleasantly 
occupied  than  with  some  more  pretentious  books.  The 
range  is  wide  over  many  lands,  scenes,  and  celebrities. 
Much  light  is  thrown  upon  contemporary  history.  The 
manners  of  a  bygone  period  in  letters  and  politics  in  our 
own  country  are  graphically  depicted.  Life  in  other  and 
older  lands  is  contrasted  with  the  simplicity  of  republican 
ways,  and  the  scenery  of  the  unbroken  wilderness  with 
the  artificiality  of  landscapes  that  had  absorbed  the  labor 
of  generations.  To  take  a  few  titles  at  random  from  a 
single  volume :  —  "  Letters  "  from  Plymouth,  Cape  Cod,  the 
Delaware,  the  Hudson,  on  Edward  Everett,  Calhoun,  and 
Benton,  Fenimore  Cooper,  Daniel  Webster,  Irving,  Whipple, 
Society  and  Manners  in  New  York,  Shoddy  Aristocracy, 
and  a  score  of  similar  home  topics  about  which  everybody 
was  surprised  to  find  how  much  WilUs  could  tell  them. 
He  had  an  artist's  eye  to  see  the  picturesque  in  familiar 
objects  and  the  artist's  touch  to  bring  out  the  unexpected 
beauty  or  interest  of  the  commonplace. 

Letters  from  famous  places  abroad  revealed  things 
unseen  to  the  dwellers  in  them,  and  had  a  twofold  interest 
Travellers'  ^^  uutravellcd  Americans.  They  depicted  Lon- 
Letters.  ^^^  ^^^  Edinburgh,  not  forgetting  memorable 

events  in  their  past  nor  overlooking  a  Scotch  breakfast 
in  the  present.  Shooting  in  the  highlands  relieves  an 
account  of  the  "  Blackwood  "  writers,  and  the  Duke  of  Aber- 
deen's hounds  are  given  a  place  near  the  personal  beauty 


Nathaniel  P.  Willis  and  Bayard  Taylor     229 

of  the  English.  In  a  second  visit  to  England  he  gets  a 
glimpse  of  the  queen,  in  the  third  year  of  her  reign,  riding 
from  the  palace  on  horseback,  with  Lord  Melbourne  on 
one  side  and  Lord  Byron  on  the  other;  admires  the 
cavalcade  of  equipages  in  Piccadilly,  goes  to  Brighton  by 
stage,  meets  the  Persian  ambassador  and  the  king  of  Oude, 
dines  with  royalty,  breakfasts  with  nobility,  lunches  with 
authors  now  called  classic,  and  is  everywhere  feted  and 
flattered.  Spiteful  people  at  home  said  that  his  head  was 
turned,  as  the  treatment  he  received  would  have  turned 
their  own ;  but  the  surfeit  of  it  appears  to  have  been  an 
antidote,  and  he  went  on  year  after  year  writing  lightly 
and  gracefully  about  places  of  interest  and  people  of  dis- 
tinction to  the  delight  of  all  readers  of  his  journal,  the 
"  Spectator  "  of  its  age. 

He  was  a  late  survivor  of  the  Knickerbocker  group,  and 
in  some  degree  a  representative  of  its  characteristics  in 
prose  or  verse.     A  ready,  though  careful  writer, 
of  quick  perceptions  rather  than  of  profound  Popiar 

■^  ^  Literature." 

views,  with  a  knack  of  making  the  most  of 
ordinary  topics,  and  possessing  an  instinctive  knowledge 
of  the  attainments  of  the  average  reader  in  his  time,  he 
did  successful  work  for  that  time  without  giving  much 
thought  to  the  verdict  of  posterity.  If  he  had  regarded  it 
he  might  have  missed  its  favor  and  that  of  his  constitu- 
ency also.  It  is  something  to  have  won  the  last.  There 
is  more  in  his  best  writings  that  is  perennial  than  those 
who  have  not  read  them  might  suspect.  If  he  cannot  be 
reckoned  among  the  company  of  immortals,  "limited," 
he  should  not  be  overlooked  in  that  other  class  of  men 
who  are  useful  to  their  own  generation.  As  he  himself 
wrote : 


230  American  Literature 

"  I  learned  also,  to  my  comfort,  that  nature  publishes  some 
volumes  with  many  leaves,  which  are  not  intended  to  be  of  any 
posthumous  value —  the  white  poplar  not  lasting  three  moon- 
light nights  after  it  is  cut  down.  Even  with  such  speedy 
decay,  however,  it  throws  a  pleasant  shade  while  it  flourishes ; 
and  so,  white  poplar  literature,  recognized  as  a  class  in  literature, 
should  have  its  brief  summer  of  indulgence." 

Many  younger  writers  had  good  reason  to  be  grateful  to 
him  for  his  encouragement  in  their  early  efforts^  He  was 
kind  and  generous  toward  all  sincere  aspirants,  and 
brought  out  some  who,  like  Lowell,  attained  a  more  lasting 
renown  than  their  early  patron. 

One  might  go  farther  afield  with  Willis  than  in  his 
"  Trip  to  Scotland  "  and  get  less  for  his  trouble.  And  in 
that  chilly  country  he  might  find  less  interesting  gossip 
than  the  remarks  about  "  Christopher  North/ 

"  I  was  punctual  to  my  hour,  and  found  the  poet  standing 
before  the  fire  with  his  coat  skirts  expanded  —  a  large,  muscular 
man,  something  slovenly  in  his  dress,  but  with  tlie  manner  and 
face  of  high  good  humor,  and  remarkably  frank  and  prepossess- 
ing address.  While  he  was  finding  me  a  chair,  and  saying  civil 
things  of  the  noble  friend  who  had  been  the  medium  of  our 
acquaintance,  I  was  trying  to  reconcile  my  idea  of  him,  gathered 
from  portraits  and  descriptions,  with  the  person  before  me.  His 
head  is  exceedingly  ample,  his  eye  blue  and  restless,  his  mouth 
full  of  character,  and  his  hair  of  a  light  sandy  color  takes  very 
much  its  own  way,  and  has  the  wildness  of  a  Highlander*s. 

"  He  talked  of  American  poets,  praised  Percival  and  Pierpont, 
and  expressed  great  pleasure  at  the  criticisms  of  his  own  works 
that  had  appeared  in  American  papers  and  magazines.  If  I  had 
wished  to  remind  him  that  he  had  not  breakfasted,  I  should 
have  had  no  opportunity,  for  the  stream  of  his  eloquence  ran  on 
without  a  break  ;  and  eloquent  it  certainly  was. 

"  I  asked  if  Blackwood  was  a  man  of  refined  literary  taste. 


Nathaniel  P.  Willis  and  Bayard  Taylor     231 

"  *  Yes/  he  said,  *  I  would  trust  his  opinion  of  a  book  sooner 
than  any  man  I  know.  He  might  not  publish  everything  he 
approved,  for  it  was  his  business  to  print  only  things  that  would 
sell;  and,  therefore,  there  are  perhaps  many  authors  who 
would  complain  of  him;  but  if  his  opiinion  had  been  against 
my  own,  and  it  had  been  my  own  book,  I  should  believe  he  was 
right,  and  give  up  my  own  judgment.  He  was  a  patron  of 
literature,  and  it  owes  him  much.     He  is  a  loss  to  the  world/  " 

And  then  follows  chat  about  the  "  Noctes  "  and  its  com- 
pany of  wits  at  Ambrose's,  redolent  of  usquebaugh,  and 
about  Lockhart  and  Scott,  Southey  and  Wordsworth,  until 
Willis  drove  away  to  dine  with  Jeflfrey  and  his  American 
wife,  at  whose  table  politics  happened  just  then  to  prevail 
over  letters. 

Greater  authors  than  Willis  have  been  fgted  abroad 
since  1830,  but  few  have  met  with  more  celebrities,  or 
been  more  graciously  received  in  many  lands,  or  in  turn 
have  been  able  to  make  their  "  pencilings  by  the  way " 
more  agreeable  to  readers  of  several  grades;  for  these 
notes  of  his  cover  every  variety  of  topic  from  royalty 
to  poultry,  and  from  Cape  Cod  to  Damascus.  The  illu- 
mination which  his  gossipy  letters  to  contemporary 
journals  throw  upon  life  and  literature  cannot  well  be 
disregarded  by  any  student  of  the  period  in  which  he 
lived  and  wrote. 

One  of  those  who  were  always  ready  to  acknowledge 
indebtedness  to  his  literary  hospitality  was  Bayard  Taylor, 
a  Pennsylvania  youth  who  was  blessed  with  gayard 
visions  of  authorship  and  travel,  but  troubled  '^^y^°'^- 
with  scant  means  and  opportunities.  He  acquired  enough 
Latin  at  school  to  give  him  a  clew  to  the  Eomance 
languages,  and  obtained  the  technical  education  of  a 


232  American  Literature 

printing  office.  To  these  he  added  the  larger  education  of 
a  literary  tramp  in  foreign  countries,  writing  letters  to 
newspapers  for  his  support,  and  after  two  years  returned 
to  New  York  for  fresh  orders.  The  metropolis  was  still 
keeping  good  its  title  to  the  largest  literary  cultivation  in 
the  country,  if  not  the  highest.  What  remained  of  the 
old  Knickerbocker  school  was  doing  fair  work,  and  new 
material  was  added  from  time  to  time.  Conspicuous  among 
those  already  spoken  of  were  Morris,  Hoffman,  the  Duyc- 
kincks  and  "certain  women  of  their  company,"  besides 
sundry  bohemian  encampments  on  the  borderland  between 
aspiration  and  performance,  all  together  causing  some  one 
to  define  the  Knickerbocker  school  as  "  composed  of  authors 
whom  we  all  remember  as  forgotten."  To  the  survivors 
Willis,  Griswold,  and  Hoffman  introduced  Taylor,  and 
within  three  months  he  had  engagements  to  write  for  four 
journals,  besides  a  place  as  chief  of  the  literary  depart- 
ment of  the  "  Tribune."  He  was  at  home  in  this  diversified 
occupation,  writing  fifteen  hours  a  day,  turning  his  hand 
to  anything  demanded  for  the  daily  press,  doing  his  work 
so  carefully  and  well  that  he  won  a  higher  position  and 
became  a  stockholder  in  the  company. 

California  and  Mexico  next  gratified  his  love  of  travel 
and  adventure,  and  an  invitation  to  deliver  a  Commence- 
Traveiier  and  "^^^^  poem  at  Harvard  came  as  a  tribute  to  his 
Journalist.  poetic  talent.  Then  followed  the  inevitable 
abuse  which  dogs  success,  and  because  he  happened  to  be 
the  author  of  a  prize  song  for  Jenny  Lind  and  seven 
hundred  and  fifty-two  other  competitors  were  not,  he  began 
.to  wish  he  had  never  been  born  a  poet.  Nevertheless  he 
published  "  A  Book  of  Eomances,  Lyrics,  and  Songs,"  and 
started  on  a  long  journey  to  Europe  and  the  Orient,  dur- 


Nathaniel  P.  Willis  and  Bayard  Taylor     233 

ing  which  he  wrote  letters  to  the  "  Tribune  "  and  became 
the  "  great  American  traveller,"  as  much  at  home  in  Paris 
or  Damascus  as  in  New  York. 

He  would  rather  have  been  called  a  reporter,  with  true 
loyalty  to  his  journalistic  connections.  He  knew  with 
unerring  instinct  what  to  observe  and  how  to  convey  a 
picture  of  it  in  words  to  far-away  readers ;  not  with  photo- 
graphic detail  so  much  as  with  oriental  color,  and  that, 
too,  without  Asiatic  magnificence  of  diction.  As  an  out- 
come of  his  journeyings  he  published  in  one  season  his 
"  Journey  to  Central  Africa,"  "  The  Lands  of  the  Saracen," 
and  "  Poems  of  the  Orient,"  with  fourteen  thousand  of  the 
first  two  books  ordered  in  advance.  "  A  Visit  to  India, 
China,  and  Japan,"  followed,  with  more  "  Poems "  and 
cyclopedia  work.  Then  came  "  Northern  Travel ;  Summer 
in  Sweden,"  as  the  result  of  more  journeying,  succeeded 
by  an  excursion  into  Greece  and  ics  islands.  Thus  his 
volumes  of  travel  at  last  amounted  to  eleven,  covering  the 
great  highways  and  some  of  the  byways  of  two  hemi- 
spheres. The  day  of  the  stereopticon  had  not  yet  arrived. 
Even  now  those  who  do  not  like  to  go  out  nights  to  see  a 
canvas  disc  eclipsed  by  a  succession  of  wonders  may  have 
their  compensation  in  staying  at  home  with  Bayard  Taylor. 
He,  too,  had  his  seasons  of  lecturing  in  the  years  when  the 
lyceums  in  every  town  employed  such  talent  as  they  could 
afford,  and  many  audiences  were  entertained  and  in- 
structed by  his  picturesque  descriptions  of  the  Arabs, 
India,  and  Japan.  These  lectures  he  repeated  one  hundred 
and  eighty  times  in  a  single  year.  But  the  wear  and  tear 
of  hard  journeys  and  bad  cooking  put  him  out  of  the 
itinerant  circuit  with  many  another  brilliant  speaker  in 
that  age  of  popular  education  from  the  platform,  and  he 


234  American  Literature 

returned  to   more   agreeable   travelling   and  writing  in 
foreign  lands. 

Afterward  he  tried  his  hand  at  novel  writing,  produc- 
ing four,  of  which  "  The  Story  of  Kennet "  is  the  best,  and 
"  John  Godfrey's  Fortunes "  nearest  to  the  writer's  per- 
sonal experiences  as  a  literary  worker  in  New  York. 
He  also  attempted  the  drama  under  the  titles  of  "  The 
Masque  of  the  Gods,"  "  The  Prophet,"  and  "  Prince  Deu- 
kalion."  Poems  he  was  always  writing,  in  his  ambition  to 
become  a  poet  rather  than  be  known  as  a  traveller  and 
journalist.  It  is  not  the  first  instance  nor  the  last  of 
mistaking  one's  real  vocation.  His  versatility  was  too 
great  and  his  labor  in  many  directions  too  constant  to 
permit  the  highest  attainment  in  the  sublimest  art.  An 
author  of  thirty-seven  volumes  cannot  expect  to  make 
many  of  them  classics.  Bayard  Taylor  knew  this,  and 
in  the  manifold  labors  of  a  hurried  life  felt  the  truth  of 
Chaucer's  line : 

"Na  man  can  werk  baith  well  and  hastilie." 

The  distractions  of  diversified  employment  made  havoc 
of  his  supreme  ambitions,  and  disappointed  in  his  dearest 
hopes  he  wrote : 

"  And  still  some  cheaper  service  claims 
The  will  that  leaps  to  loftier  call ; 
Some  cloud  is  cast  on  splendid  aims, 

On  power  achieved  some  common  thrall.** 

Nevertheless  he  left  in  the  abundance  of  his  writings 
much  that  instructs  and  entertains  and  delights.  Doubt- 
less the  majority  of  readers  would  prefer  the  multiform 
results  of  his  labor  to  greater  excellence  in  a  single  de- 
partment of  it.    As  journalist,  traveller,  translator,  dram- 


Nathaniel  P.  Willis  and  Bayard  Taylor     235 

atist,  and  poet,  his  range  is  wide  enough  and  sufficiently 
diversified  to  relieve  his  writing  from  monotony  and 
retain  the  reader's  attention.  Beyond  this  each  one  will 
find  before  reading  far  something  that  will  appeal  to  his 
love  of  nature,  his  interest  in  things  and  lands  remote,  or 
his  sense  of  poetic  values.  The  lesson  of  all  this  long 
and  active  life  is  best  summed  up  in  the  aspiration  of  the 
poet's  own  verse : 

"  Let  higher  goal  and  harsher  way 
To  test  our  virtue  then  combine ! 
*T  is  not  for  idle  ease  we  pray. 
But  freedom  for  our  task  divine." 

In  his  "  By-Ways  of  Europe  "  he  shows  that  he  took 
something  more  than  staff  and  wallet  with  him. 

"  I  had  already  stood  in  the  hall  of  the  Minnesingers  on  the 
Wartburg ;  had  crept  into  the  Cave  of  Venus,  on  the  mountain 
of  Tannhauser ;  had  walked  through  the  Valley  of  Joy,  where 
the  two  wives  of  the  Count  of  Gleichen  first  met  face  to  face  ; 
and  had  stood  on  the  spot  where  Winfried,  the  English  apostle, 
cut  down  the  Druid  oaks  and  set  up  in  their  stead  an  altar  to 
Christ.  But  on  the  northern  border  of  Thiiringia,  where  its 
last  mountains  look  across  the  Golden  Mead  towards  the  dark 
summits  of  the  Hartz,  there  stands  a  castle,  in  whose  ruins 
sleeps  the  favorite  tradition  of  Germany,  —  a  legend  which, 
changing  with  the  ages,  became  the  embodiment  of  an  idea, 
and  now  represents  the  national  unity,  strength  and  freedom. 

"  This  is  the  Kyffhauser ;  and  the  Emperor  Frederick  Barba- 
rossa  sleeps  under  it,  in  a  crypt  of  the  mountain,  waiting  for  the 
day  when  the  whole  land,  from  the  Baltic  to  the  Alps  shall  be 
ready  to  receive  a  single  ruler.  Then  he  will  come  forth,  and 
the  lost  Empire  will  be  restored. 

"  It  is  not  always  best  to  track  a  legend  too  closely.  The  airy 
brow  of  Tannhauser's  Mountain  proved  to  be  a  very  ugly  rock 
and  very  tenacious  clay  when  I  climbed  it ;   and  I  came  forth 


236  American  Literature 

from  the  narrow  slit  of  a  cavern  torn,  squeezed  out  of  breath, 
and  spotted  with  tallow.  Something  out  of  the  purple  moun- 
tain and  the  mystery  of  its  beautiful  story  has  vanished  since 
then.  But  the  day  of  my  departure  for  the  Kyff  bauser  was  meant 
for  an  excursion  into  dream-land.  .  .  .  Poetry  walked  on  my 
right  hand,  tradition  on  my  left.  History  respectfully  declined 
to  join  the  party ;  the  dim,  vapory,  dreamful  atmosphere  did  not 
suit  her.  Why  was  the  dead  Barbarossa  supposed  to  be  en- 
chanted in  a  vault  under  the  Kyffhauser,  a  castle  which  he  had 
never  made  his  residence  ]  Fifteen  years  ago,  at  the  foot  of  the 
Taurus,  in  Asia  Minor,  I  had  stood  on  the  banks  of  the  river  in 
which  he  was  drowned  ;  and  in  Tyre  I  saw  the  chapel  in  which, 
according  to  such  history  as  we  possess,  his  body  was  laid. 
Then  why  should  he,  of  all  the  German  Emperors,  be  chosen  as 
the  symbol  of  a  political  resurrection  ?  He  defied  the  power  of 
the  popes,  and  was  placed  under  the  ban  of  the  Church ;  he 
gained  some  battles  and  lost  others ;  he  commenced  a  crusade, 
but  never  returned  from  it ;  he  did  something  towards  the 
creation  of  a  middle  class,  but  in  advance  of  the  time  when 
such  a  work  could  have  been  appreciated.  He  was  evidently 
a  man  of  genius  and  energy,  of  a  noble  personal  presence,  and 
probably  possessed  that  individual  magnetism,  the  effect  of 
which  survives  so  long  among  the  people ;  yet  all  these  things 
did  not  seem  to  constitute  a  sufficient  explanation. 

"  The  popularity  of  the  Barbarossa  legend,  however,  is  not  to 
be  ascribed  to  anything  in  the  Emperor's  history.  In  whatever 
way  it  may  have  been  created,  it  soon  became  the  most  pictur- 
esque dream  of  German  unity  —  a  dream  to  which  the  people 
held  fast,  while  the  princes  were  doing  their  best  to  make  the 
dream  impossible.  Barbarossa  was  not  the  first,  nor  the  last, 
nor  the  best  of  the  great  Emperors,  but  the  legend,  ever  wilful 
in  its  nature,  fastened  upon  him,  and  Art  and  Literature  are  forced 
to  accept  what  they  find  already  accepted  by  the  people." 

Such  comment  on  what  an  ordinary  tourist  would  call 
an  uninteresting  old  ruin  —  judging  by  the  pencil  sketch 
Taylor  made  of  it  —  indicates  that  there  may  be  a  genius 


Nathaniel  P.  Willis  and  Bayard  Taylor     237 

for  travel,  and  that  this  traveller  was  something  more 
than  a  sightseer.  He  was  a  peripatetic  philosopher  in 
a  larger  than  the  Aristotelian  sense.  He  was  also  an 
artist  in  description,  as  countless  portrayals  of  places  and 
persons  reveal  in  the  several  volumes  of  his  works. 
What  kind  of  a  poet  he  was  may  be  answered  by  these 
representative  lines. 

It  may  be  referred  to  anthropologists  to  fix  the  approx- 
imate epoch  when  "  Camadeva  "  —  Love  as  differentiated 
from  natural  selection  —  came  to  primitive  man. 

"  The  sun,  the  moon,  the  mystic  planets  seven, 
Shone  with  purer  and  serener  flame, 
And  there  was  joy  on  Earth  and  joy  in  Heaven 
When  Camadeva  came. 

"  The  blossoms  burst,  like  jewels  of  the  air. 
Putting  the  colors  of  the  morn  to  shame  ; 
Breathing  their  odorous  secrets  everywhere 
When  Camadeva  came. 

"  The  birds,  upon  the  tufted  tamarind  spray, 
Sat  side  by  side  and  cooed  in  amorous  blame  ; 
The  lion  sheathed  his  claws  and  left  his  prey 
When  Camadeva  came. 

**  The  sea  slept,  pillowed  on  the  happy  shore; 
The  mountain-peaks  were  bathed  in  rosy  flame ; 
The  clouds  went  down  the  sky,  —  to  mount  no  more 
When  Camadeva  came. 

"  The  hearts  of  all  men  brightened  like  the  mom ; 
The  poet's  harp  then  first  deserved  its  fame, 
For  rapture  sweeter  than  he  sang  was  born 
When  Camadeva  came. 

"  All  breathing  life  a  newer  spirit  quaffed, 
A  second  life,  a  bliss  beyond  a  name. 
And  Death,  half-conquered,  dropped  his  idle  shaft 
When  Camadeva  came." 


238  American  Literature 

And  this  on  "  Nubia  "  is  good  to  read  when  life  and 
the  times  are  over-strenuous: 

"  Land  of  Dreams  and  Sleep,  —  a  poppied  land  ! 
With  skies  of  endless  calm  above  her  head, 
The  drowsy  warmth  of  summer  noonday  shed 
Upon  her  hills,  and  silence  stem  and  grand 
Throughout  her  Desert's  temple-burying  sand. 
Before  her  threshold,  in  their  ancient  place, 
With  closed  lips,  and  fixed,  majestic  face, 
Noteless  of  Time,  her  dumb  colossi  stand. 
0,  pass  them  not  with  light,  irreverent  tread; 
Respect  the  dream  that  builds  her  fallen  throne, 
And  soothes  her  to  oblivion  of  her  woes. 
Hush  !  for  she  does  but  sleep ;  she  is  not  dead  : 
Action  and  Toil  have  made  the  world  their  own, 
But  she  hath  built  an  altar  to  Repose.** 


XXI 

JOHN  PENDLETON  KENNEDY  —  WILLIAM  GILMORE 

SIMMS 

If  the  growth  of  American  letters  be  followed  along 
the  Atlantic  seaboard  as  well  as  in  the  time  order,  a 
phase  of  it  will  be  discovered  to  the  southward  in  the 
second  quarter  of  the  century.  A  few  writers  who  were 
born  within  five  or  six  years  of  1800  had  grown  old 
enough  to  handle  the  pen  with  skill  in  the  third  and 
fourth  decades.  It  was  a  time  when  the  new  American 
novel  was  disclosing  a  native  wealth  of  material  out 
of  which  romances  could  be  constructed.  Cooper  had 
widened  the  trail  which  Brockden  Brown  had  blazed 
through  the  forest,  and  now  there  were  many  to  follow, 
even  if  they  could  not  step  in  Cooper's  tracks.  The 
country  was  large  and  the  wilderness  vast  and  life  multi- 
farious. Writers  might  be  stimulated  by  the  prolific 
romancer  of  the  woods  and  the  sea  and  the  battlefields  of 
freedom  without  imitating  him  more  than  he  had  imitated 
another  in  Scotland,  which  was  not  servilely. 

Passing  from  the  New  York  coterie  and  by  the  little 
company  of  poets  who  were  keeping  up  the  literary  tradi- 
tions of  Philadelphia  as  best  they  could,  one 
would  have   found   in   Baltimore   in   1832   a  Lawyer  and 

Novelist. 

lawyer  and  a  statesman  who  was  showing  that 

the  South  could  contribute  its  own  characteristic  share  to 

the  romance  of   the  period.     John   Pendleton  Kennedy^ 

239 


240  American  Literature 

born  in  1795,  joined  the  volunteer  service  in  the  war  of 
1812,  at  the  close  of  which  he  began  legal  studies,  and  in 
1818  took  up  literary  pursuits  as  a  diversion.  Politics 
appear  to  have  been  forced  upon  him  with  the  honor  of 
repeated  elections  to  Congress  and  attendant  positions  of 
responsibility,  culminating  in  the  secretaryship  of  the 
navy,  an  office  that  has  been  filled  several  times  by  men 
of  letters.  Twenty  years  before  this,  in  1832,  he  pub- 
lished his  first  novel,  "  Swallow  Barn ;  or,  a  Sojourn  in 
the  Old  Dominion,"  portraying  plantation  life  in  Virginia 
on  its  white  side,  genial,  generous,  and  hospitable.  The 
sketches  which  are  here  strung  on  the  thread  of  a  story 
have  a  flowing  ease  of  diction  and  accuracy  of  observation 
that  are  continually  suggestive  of  Irving  and  "  Bracebridge 
Hall."  Their  minuteness  of  descriptive  detail  is  photo- 
graphic in  accuracy,  leaviug,  also,  strong  impressions  of 
salient  features  and  a  general  view  of  somewhat  drowsy 
and  dishevelled  landscapes,  like  those  of  the  Hudson  in 
the  days  of  the  Dutch.  Sleepy  Hollow  is  recalled  by  the 
dell  on  the  banks  of  the  James,  and  Ichabod  Crane  by  the 
pedagogue  Chub.  Faithful  representations  are  given  of 
court-house  scenes  and  county  politics,  of  domestic  econ- 
omies and  extravagances,  of  convivial  boards  and  moon- 
light hunts. 

"  Horseshoe  Eobinson  "  was  one  of  the  earliest  examples 
of  historical  romance  written  in  America.  Cooper  had 
Histo  and  ^^^  ^  ^""^P^  "^^^^^  noue  of  his  couutrymcn  had 
Romance.  i^qqj^^  able  to  imitate  for  ten  years  after  the 
"  Spy "  was  written.  But  by  1835  Kennedy  could  send 
out  something  better  than  an  imitation  in  the  story  which 
closes  with  the  battle  of  King's  Mountain  in  the  war  for 
independence.    This  time  he  placed  his  romance  in  South 


John  P.  Kennedy — William  G.  Simms     241 

Carolina,  and  \Vent  back  as  far  as  Scott  did  when  he 
began  "  Waverley ;  or,  'T  is  Sixty  Years  Since."  Historical 
events  of  the  revolution  were  getting  far  enough  back  to 
be  seen  in  perspective.  Around  them  were  gathering  the 
mists  of  tradition,  sufficient  to  produce  a  requisite  halo  of 
romance.  Even  a  delightful  myth  had  time  to  harden 
into  a  fact  in  threescore  years,  and  what  statement  of 
contemporaries  was  ever  so  definite  and  well  attested  that 
the  acumen  of  later  criticism  was  not  able  to  upset  it? 
This  writer  was  as  faithful  to  the  record  as  a  novelist  is 
required  to  be,  but  every  one  knows  that  there  is  no  such 
basis  for  fiction  as  fact,  and  that  history  is  the  most 
ductile,  malleable,  pliable,  and  flexible  of  all  materials. 
Therefore,  if  any  statistician  approaches  our  first  or 
second  or  twentieth  writer  of  historical  romances  with 
Pilate's  question.  What  is  truth?  let  him  turn  to  histo- 
rians in  every  nation  and  time,  from  Herodotus  down,  to 
find  a  satisfactory  answer.  If  he  then  addresses  the  great 
body  of  readers,  he  will  also  discover  that  the  history  they 
remember  best  was  learned  in  novels,  and  sometimes  that 
the  later  the  history  the  nearer  the  sifted  tradition  comes 
to  romance.  In  any  case,  the  story  of  the  independence 
conflict  as  told  by  this  author  is  interesting  in  its  por- 
trayal of  a  divided  public  sentiment,  and  of  the  vicissi- 
tudes of  strife  in  a  sparsely  inhabited  district,  ravaged  by 
both  armies  alternately.  With  uncommon  and  conscien- 
tious fidelity  the  writer  has  filled  in  the  darkest  period 
of  the  war  with  delineations  of  characters  in  all  the 
variety  that  is  found  in  a  new  land  in  its  half-built  towns 
and  on  its  ragged  frontier,  with  the  quaint  and  strong  per- 
sonalities and  local  eccentricities  which  belonged  to  pro- 
vincial life  in  the  eighteenth  century.    Added  to  these  are 


16 


242  American  Literature 

violent  features  which  partisan  war  more  than  any  other 
develops  in  jealousy,  distrust,  and  hatred  between  neigh- 
bors, friends,  and  families,  with  graphic  descriptions  of 
bivouac,  raid,  and  battle  by  one  whose  familiarity  with 
the  ground  gives  reality  and  authenticity  to  every  scene. 
Besides  there  is  emphasized  an  element  of  strife  in  the 
loyalist  or  Tory  party  which  is  often  overlooked  or  for- 
gotten by  those  who  give  but  a  passing  thought  to  the  war 
for  independence.  The  ascendency  of  this  party  in  Caro- 
lina gave  color  to  a  tale  of  bitter  contention.  In  it  also 
is  drawn  from  life  a  portrait  of  Eobinson,  as  individual 
and  characteristic  of  its  time  and  place  as  Cooper's  famous 
hero,  Leatherstocking.  When  in  after  years  the  entire 
story  was  read  to  the  original  he  gave  the  indorsement  of 
an  unspoiled  critic  in  the  words :  "  It 's  all  true  and  right 
—  in  its  right  place  —  excepting  them  women,  which  I 
disremember."  The  immediate  popularity  of  the  story 
brought  the  author  abundant  praise  from  the  multitude 
and  generous  appreciation  from  Irving  and  other  writers. 

Three  years  later  he  published  "  Eob  of  the  Bowl."  In 
this  story  he  came  nearer  his  home,  but  went  farther  back 
in  history  to  the  colonial  days  of  the  second  Lord  Balti- 
more and  of  the  disturbances  consequent  upon  King 
Charles'  order  to  substitute  Protestants  for  Eoman  Catho- 
lics in  every  provincial  office  of  trust.  Pictures  of  domes- 
tic life  alternate  with  wilder  scenes  on  land  and  sea  in 
a  time  when  smuggling  was  not  sharply  distinguished 
from  legitimate  commerce  by  adventurous  skippers.  Por- 
traiture of  colonial  life  itself  ranged  from  the  governor's 
mansion  to  the  corsairs'  hiding-place,  from  the  nobleman 
and  cavalier  to  the  tailor  and  the  mountebank.  In  it  all 
is  afforded  a  picture  of  the  times  that   no  chronicle  or 


John  P.  Kennedy  —  William  G.  Simms     243 

annals  or  more  pretentious  history  has  given.  It  is  a 
reproduction  of  daily  life  more  than  of  politics  and 
administration,  or  of  these  embellished  with  the  happen- 
ings and  the  characters  which  swarm  over  and  under  the 
mock-heroic  stateliness  of  colonial  grandeur.      " 

As  the  author  had  begun  his  literary  career  with  the 
anonymous  and  Salmagundian  "  Eed  Book  "  of  local  fun- 
making  and  satire  upon  the  town,  so  he  closed  it  with  a 
political  satire  entitled  "Quodlibet,  by  Solomon  Second- 
thought,  Schoolmaster,"  on  the  period  of  the  national  bank 
and  contemporary  issues.  But  the  last  book  is  not  like 
the  first,  nor  any  one  of  his  three  other  volumes  like  either 
of  its  companions.  They  are  as  diverse  at  least  as  the 
provinces  with  which  they  deal,  and  while  remaining 
faithful  to  the  features  of  each  are  broadly  and  pleasantly 
Southern  in  their  general  character. 

The  author's  description  of  Swallow  Bam  is  a  pic- 
ture of 

"  An  aristocratical  old  edifice  which  sits,  like  a  brooding  hen, 
on  the  southern  bank  of  the  James  Eiver.  .  .  .  The  main 
building  is  more  than  a  century  old.  It  is  built  with  thick 
brick  walls,  but  one  story  in  height,  and  surmounted  by  a 
double-faced  or  hipped  roof  which  gives  the  idea  of  a  ship 
bottom  upwards.  Later  buildings  have  been  added  to  this  as 
the  wants  or  ambition  of  the  family  have  expanded.  The  hall 
door  is  an  ancient  piece  of  walnut,  which  has  grown  too  heavy 
for  its  hinges,  and  by  its  daily  travel  has  furrowed  the  floor  in  a 
quadrant,  over  which  it  has  an  uneasy  journey.  An  ample 
court-yard  inclosed  by  a  semi-circular  paling,  extends  in  front 
of  the  whole  pile,  and  is  traversed  by  a  gravel  road  leading 
from  a  rather  ostentatious  iron  gate,  which  is  swung  between 
two  pillars  of  brick  surmounted  by  globes  of  cut  stone.  .  .  . 

"  It  is  pleasant  to  see  the  master  of  this  lordly  domain  when 


244  American  Literature 

he  is  going  to  ride  to  the  Court  House  on  business  occasions. 
He  then  is  apt  to  make  his  appearance  in  a  coat  of  blue  broad- 
cloth, astonishingly  glossy,  and  with  an  unusual  amount  of 
plaited  ruffle  strutting  through  the  folds  of  a  Marseilles  waist- 
coat. A  worshipful  finish  is  given  to  this  costume  by  a  large 
straw  hat,  lined  with  green  silk.  There  is  a  magisterial  fulness 
in  his  garments  which  betokens  condition  in  the  world,  and  a 
heavy  bunch  of  seals,  suspended  by  a  chain  of  gold,  jingles  as 
he  moves,  pronouncing  him  a  man  of  superfluities." 

Other  details  are  equally  faithful  to  the  old  time 
plantation  life  and  character,  of  which  the  following 
should  not  be  missed: 

"These  hovels  [of  the  negroes],  with  their  appurtenances, 
formed  an  exceedingly  picturesque  landscape.  They  were 
scattered,  without  order,  over  the  slope  of  a  gentle  hill,  and 
many  of  them  embowered  under  old  and  majestic  trees.  The 
rudeness  of  their  construction  rather  enhanced  the  attractiveness 
of  the  scene.  Some  few  were  built  after  the  fashion  of  the 
better  sort  of  cottages;  but  the  more  lowly  and  the  most 
numerous  were  nothing  more  than  plain  log  cabins  not  more 
than  twelve  feet  square,  and  not  above  seven  in  height.  A 
door  swung  upon  wooden  hinges,  and  a  small  window  of  two 
narrow  panes  of  glass  were  the  only  openings  in  front." 

In  the  midst  of  these  and  many  more  features  of  South- 
ern life  it  is  interesting  to  note  an  opinion  on  the  negro 
question  written  in  1829. 

"  What  the  negro  is  finally  capable  of,  in  the  way  of  civiliza- 
tion, I  am  not  philosopher  enough  to  determine.  In  the 
present  stage  of  his  existence  he  presents  himself  to  my  mind 
as  essentially  parasitical  in  his  nature.  I  mean  that  he  is,  in 
his  moral  constitution,  a  dependant  upon  the  white  race ; 
dependant  for  guidance  and  direction  even  to  the  procurement 
of  his  most  indispensable  necessaries.  Apart  from  this  protec- 
tion he  has  the  helplessness  of  a  child,  —  without  foresight, 


John  P.  Kennedy  —  William  G.  Simms     245 

without  contrivance,  without  thrift.  This  may  be  the  due 
and  natural  impression  which  two  centuries  of  servitude  have 
stamped  upon  the  race.  But  it  is  not  the  less  an  insurmount- 
able impediment  to  that  most  cruel  of  all  projects  —  the  direct, 
broad  emancipation  of  these  people ;  —  an  act  of  legislation  in 
comparison  with  which  the  revocation  of  the  edict  of  Nantes 
would  be  entitled  to  be  ranked  among  political  benefactions." 

There  is  much  more  in  this  forty-sixth  chapter  that  is 
worth  reading  in  the  light  of  events  that  have  occurred 
since  it  was  written. 


A  more  prolific  Southern  author  was  William  Gilmore 
Simms  of  South  Carolina.  He,  too,  began  life  as  a  lawyer, 
but  left  his  profession  for  a  more  active  career 

Sitnms. 

as  a  writer  first  of  verses,  after  an  unsuccessful 
newspaper  experience,  publishing  his  "  Lyrical  and  Other 
Poems"  in  1827,  and  three  other  volumes  in  as  many 
years.  "  Atlantis,  a  Story  of  the  Sea,"  composed  on  the 
Massachusetts  shore,  brought  him  a  generous  welcome  by 
the  guild  of  authors  in  New  York,  the  Harpers  issuing 
this  poem  and  also  his  first  tale,  entitled  "  Martin  Faber." 
Then  followed  a  time  of  production  marvellous  in  its 
industry  and  fertility.  Poems,  plays,  reviews,  essays, 
biographies  and,  more  numerous  still,  novels,  which  flowed 
from  a  quill  that  surpassed  the  so-called  fountain  pen  of 
intermittent  activity  and  untrustworthy  habits.  With 
whatever  he  wrote,  the  reservoir  of  his  invention  was 
regular  in  supply  and  apparently  inexhaustible.  The 
titles  of  his  volumes  mark  off  the  years,  and  sometimes 
halves  and  quarters,  for  the  space  of  an  entire  generation. 
They  range  from  west  to  east,  from  south  to  north,  from 
historic  and  biographic  to  highly  imaginative  creations. 


246  American  Literature 

To  enumerate  them  is  to  indicate  the  line  of  his  literary 
pilgrimage  with  its  general  forward  movement  and  digres- 
sions into  by-paths  diverting  to  himself  and  entertaining 
to  his  readers.  Moreover,  these  titles  are  half  character- 
izations of  the  books  themselves.  **'  The  Yemassee,"  "  The 
Partisan,"  "  Southern  Passages  and  Pictures,"  "  Donna 
Florida,"  «  The  Wigwam  and  the  Cabin,"  "  The  Damsel  of 
Darien,"  and  the  like,  are  the  author's  sign -manual  of  the 
bequests  that  are  to  follow  and  of  what  sort  they  will  be. 
There  will  be  sunshine  in  them  as  in  the  land  where  they 
were  written,  but  alternating  with  black  clouds  and  terrific 
storms,  loyalty  with  disloyalty,  peace  with  war,  family 
affection  with  the  feuds  of  kinsmen,  the  love  of  indepen- 
dence with  fidelity  to  colonial  traditions,  love  with  duty, 
filial  devotion  with  a  lover's  consecration,  all  intensified 
by  the  undeniable  influences  which  belong  to  race  and 
environment. 

To  characterize  the  forty-four  volumes  that  he  pub- 
lished in  thirty-three  years  would  manifestly  be  beyond 
Fertility  and  ^^®  scopc  of  anything  less  than  a  literary 
Range.  biography.     On  the  other  hand,  it  may  be  said 

of  this  voluminous  writer,  as  of  many  who  have  written 
less,  that  to  quote  a  single  passage  as  an  example  of  his 
production  is  as  unfair  as  to  bring  forward  a  scale  of  bark 
and  say.  Behold  the  palmetto  tree.  Besides,  no  kind  of 
tree  ever  had  a  greater  variety  of  species  than  this  author 
had  diversity  of  topics,  scenes,  characters,  and,  it  might  be 
added,  grades  of  work.  Amidst  so  much,  however,  and  in 
the  case  of  a  writer  so  far  removed  in  time,  it  will  be 
necessary  to  call  attention  to  that  part  of  his  work  which 
was  done  best,  and  which  has  a  value  of  its  own  apart 
from  its  execution.     This  is  embraced  chiefly  in  his  his- 


John  P.  Kennedy  —  William  G.  Simms     247 

torical  romances  of  the  war  for  independence.  Passing  by 
"  Guy  Eivers  "  and  the  rest  of  his  border  stories  and  the 
Indian  romance  of  "  The  Yemassee,"  a  great  success,  the 
first  of  the  Eevolution  tales,  "The  Partisan,"  appears 
the  same  year  with  Kennedy's  "  Horseshoe  Eobinson," 
1835.  In  this,  as  in  the  most  of  his  narratives,  true  or 
fictitious,  there  is  an  abundance  of  action,  and  though  the 
reader  is  hurried  over  rough  places,  there  is  no  danger  of 
falling  asleep.  He  will  be  treated  to  sensational  scenes 
of  the  first  magnitude.  The  play  of  the  drama  is  the 
horseplay  that  belongs  to  new  settlements  in  fighting 
trim.  A  wild  and  careless  freedom,  holding  the  life 
cheap  that  belongs  to  other  people,  especially  to  an  adver- 
sary, is  apt  to  give  interest  to  lovers  of  tragedy.  Color  is 
laid  on  thick  and  strong  without  much  delicacy  of  shad- 
ing, and  a  serviceable  character  once  introduced  is  made 
the  most  of.  In  "  Mellichampe "  the  career  of  Marion 
during  the  period  described,  the  writer  asserts,  is  true  to 
the  letter  of  written  history.  If  the  story  varies  from 
this,  the  author  is  careful  to  mention  in  a  preface  that  the 
divergence  is  supported  by  tradition.  But  he  will  not 
dignify  this  interesting  episode  with  the  name  of  historical 
romance,  because  it  contains  nothing  which  had  a  visible 
effect  upon  the  progress  of  the  Eevolution.  Still  it  throws 
a  strong  light  upon  the  "times  that  tried  men's  souls," 
and  gives  that  personality  and  particularity  to  actors  and 
events  which  the  best  histories  cannot  stop  to  give  in 
dealing  with  large  issues. 

The  reader  who  takes  up  these  romances  of  our  earlier 
writers  must  not  expect  them  to  resemble  the  fine-spun 
creations  of  the  present  day.  They  are  not  fabrications 
of  the  drawing-room  and  the  city  street  or  country  village. 


248  American  Literature 

They  belong  to  the  frontier,  the  settlement,  or  the  colonial 
town ;  to  backwoodsmen,  patriot  troops,  and  British  regu- 
lars. As  such  they  have  a  roughness,  or  sometimes  an 
inartistic  artificiality  that  is  no  better,  in  scenes  that  would 
be  overdrawn  if  they  were  less  than  true  in  their  violence. 
They  represent  the  heroic  time  in  all  its  strength  of  pur- 
pose, with  the  incidental  bitterness  that  grew  out  of  it 
between  men  of  the  same  neighborhood  or  of  the  same 
race  who  had  resorted  to  arms  on  a  question  of  loyalty  to 
an  oppressive  government  or  of  independent  home  rule. 
Fourscore  years  later  readers  of  these  romances  could 
understand  in  the  light  of  a  subsequent  war  how  fam- 
ilies could  be  separated  and  feuds  spring  up  between 
friendly  households  and  some  of  the  distresses  of  an  earlier 
time  be  reproduced. 

A  few  drops  from  the  stream  of  Simms'  romance  may 
give  a  taste  of  the  water,  but  they  cannot  picture  the  pes- 
tilential morass,  swarming  with  reptiles,  —  the  only  safe 
refuge  of  patriots, — the  dark  gorge,  the  copse-wood  ambush, 
and  the  embattled  field  through  which  and  more  the  story 
runs.  Such  a  drop  is  the  incident  of  Colonel  Walton's 
rescue  when  Comwallis  condemned  him  to  be  hanged  in 
sight  of  his  home,  after  his  rejection  of  a  proffered  com- 
mission in  the  British  army.  The  account  is  necessarily 
condensed. 

"  The  procession  moved  on ;  the  crowd  gathered  ;  the  tree  was 
before  the  doomed  victim ;  and  the  officer  in  command,  riding 
up,  ordered  a  halt  before  it,  and  proceeded  to  make  his  arrange- 
ments, when  the  bell  sounded  :  a  single  stroke  and  then  a  pause 
—  as  if  the  hand  grew  palsied  immediately  after.  That  stroke, 
however,  so  single,  so  sudden,  drew  every  eye,  aroused  all 
attention,  and,  coming  immediately  upon  the  solemn  feelings  in- 


John  P.  Kennedy  —  William  G.  Simms     249 

duced  by  the  approaching  scene  in  the  minds  of  all  the  spec- 
tators, it  had  the  effect  of  startling,  for  an  instant,  all  who 
heard  it. 

"  But  when  it  was  repeated  with  reckless  unregulate4  peal  the 
surprise  was  complete.  The  signal  had  been  heard  and  obeyed 
by  other  conspirators.  A  sudden  rush  of  flame  rose  from  the 
centre  of  the  village,  —  another  and  another  in  different  direc- 
tions. The  crowd  broke  through  the  guard  clustering  around 
the  prisoner  and  as  the  officer  tried  to  keep  his  ranks  unbroken 
he  fell  beneath  the  unerring  aim  of  a  rifleman  in  a  tree  top. 
The  officer  next  in  command  coolly  enough  prepared  to  do  his 
duty.  He  closed  his  men  around  the  prisoner,  and  when 
rushing  horses  were  heard  trooping  from  the  woods,  he  boldly 
faced  in  the  direction  of  the  expected  enemy.  Singleton  was 
penetrating  the  square  in  which  his  uncle  was  prisoner.  Right 
and  left  his  heavy  sabre  descended,  biting  fatally  at  every  stroke. 
He  seemed  double-armed  and  invulnerable.  He  ploughed  his 
way  through  the  living  wall,  with  a  steel  and  strength  equally 
irresistible. 

"Walton  at  this  moment  sprang  from  the  cart  and  the  partisans 
gathered  around  him.  The  guard  recoiled,  and  in  the  moment 
Colonel  Walton  gained  the  cover  of  the  wood ;  another  found 
him  mounted ;  and  rushing  forth,  with  a  wild  shout,  he  gave 
the  enemy  an  idea  of  the  presence  of  some  fresher  enemy,  and 
the  dismembered  guard  fled  down  the  road.*' 

A  few  other  novelists  of  this  primitive  period  do  not 
deserve  the  oblivion  that  is  likely  to  befall  them.     Dr. 
Kobert  M.  Bird  of  Philadelphia  is  best  remem- 
bered by  the  character  of  Spartacus   in   the  porary 

Novelists. 

«  Gladiator,"  but  "  Nick  of  the  Woods,"  a  post- 
revolution  story,  endeared  him  to  the  youth  of  his  day, 
and  gave  him  the  questionable  prominence  of  being  the 
patriarch  of  aU  who  manufacture  dime  novels  stuffed  with 
Indians,  tomahawks,  and  scalping  knives.    Other  tales  of 


250  American  Literature 

the  border  and  the  sea  suggest  the  fashion  started  by 
Cooper,  so  pleasing  to  the  young  American  heart  that  it 
could  not  get  enough  from  any  single  author.  A  physician 
of  New  York,  Dr.  William  S.  Mayo,  gratified  the  roving 
propensity  of  the  Yankee  nation  by  constructing  a  story 
out  of  his  observations  during  a  tour  through  the  Barbary 
States  and  Spain,  in  which  he  weds  Jonathan  Komer,  a 
thoroughbred  Vermonter,  to  an  African  princess  rejoicing 
in  the  mellifluous  name  of  "Kaloolah,"  furnishing  the 
title  to  a  novel  of  tropical  luxuriance  in  some  respects.  To 
this  he  added  "  The  Berber ;  or.  The  Mountaineer  of  the 
Atlas,"  in  similar  strain,  and  "  Komance  Dust  from  the 
Historic  Placer,"  stories  founded  upon  historical  incidents. 
Still  other  writers  of  kindred  fiction  who  had  their  brief 
day  of  recognition  and  patronage  have  faded  and  disap- 
peared in  the  receding  distance,  to  be  followed  perhaps  by 
some  who  are  still  visible  by  reason  of  services  they  ren- 
der to  the  study  of  the  history  of  their  times  by  repro- 
ducing in  a  measure  the  men  and  manners  of  those  times 
—  which  is  the  greatest  value  of  all  fiction  and  the  surest 
warrant  of  its  perpetuity. 


XXII 

EDGAR  ALLAN  POE 

In  1844  a  poem  appeared  which  commended  itself  to 
many  readers  by  the  mystery  and  sadness  with  which  it 
was  filled,  combined  with  a  certain  grotesqueness  of  fancy 
and  singularity  of  phrase  which  caught  the  popular  ear 
and  pleased  the  imagination.  Its  title  came  to  be  asso' 
ciated  so  intimately  with  the  author  that  "  Kaven  "  was 
often  the  next  word  after  Poe.  To  this  "  Annabel  Lee," 
"  The  Bells,"  "  The  Lost  Lenore,"  were  sometimes  added, 
and  other  poems  which,  like  the  poet  himself,  seemed  to 
belong  to  some  outer  world  far  from  the  practicality  of 
every-day  life  and  from  the  usual  definiteness  of  American 
literature  in  the  first  third  of  the  century. 

This  period  was  just  closing  when  John  P.  Kennedy 
did  for  Poe  what  Willis  had  done  for  Bayard  Taylor  in 
bringing  a  writer  of  promise  before  the  public. 
Prom  the  start  the  young  aspirant  had  met 
with  both  good  and  ill  fortune.  He  was  born  in  Boston, 
but  his  parents  stayed  there  only  to  complete  a  theatrical 
engagement,  wandering  off  on  a  southern  circuit,  and  both 
dying  within  two  years,  leaving  three  children  to  the 
compassion  of  such  friends  as  they  might  happen  to  find 

Edgar  was  fortunate  again  in  being  taken  up  by  the 
wife  of  a  well-to-do  tradesman  of  Eichmond,  himself 
generous  in  his  treatment  of  the  precocious  lad,  who  soon 
became  the  petted  show-piece  of  the  family.    This  was 

251 


252  American  Literature 

his  second  misfortune.  Five  years  at  an  English  school 
were  followed  by  six  more  of  preparation  for  the  Univer- 
sity of  Virginia  in  a  school  at  home.  In  both  he  was 
active  in  athletics,  a  good  boxer  and  swimmer,  with  but 
one  rival  in  scholarship,  prominent  in  debates  and  a 
versifier  of  repute,  yet  without  intimate  friends  and  in- 
clined as  a  spoiled  boy  to  be  imperious,  capricious,  and 
self-willed.  At  the  university  in  those  days  the  pursuit 
of  knowledge  was  relieved  by  punch  and  card-playing  for 
money.  His  good  fortune  he  managed  to  turn  into  evil 
by  contracting  gambling  debts  to  the  amount  of  about 
twenty-five  hundred  dollars,  which  Mr.  Allan,  his  foster- 
father,  declined  to  pay,  and  taking  the  wayward  youth 
home  at  the  end  of  the  year  placed  him  in  his  counting- 
room,  from  which  Edgar  broke  loose  and  went  to  Boston. 

He  took  with  him  as  capital  with  which  to  begin  life 
once  more  in  that  city  at  the  age  of  eighteen  a  bundle 
First  ^^  poems  which  he  persuaded  another  young 

Ventures.  ^^^^  ^^  print  in  a  thin  volume  of  forty  pages, 
entitled  "  Tamerlane  and  Other  Poems,  by  a  Bostonian." 
At  that  time  it  is  not  probable  that  his  asserted  citizen- 
ship would  have  been  honored  by  the  ruling  caste  on  the 
strength  of  his  residence  in  the  city  during  six  months 
of  infancy  seventeen  years  before.  His  credentials  lacked 
proper  indorsement.  As  for  "  Tamerlane,"  it  won  the 
author  nothing  beyond  notice  of  its  receipt  by  the  reviews 
and  mention  in  "  Ketell's  Specimens  of  American  Poetry." 
Durmg  two  years  in  the  army  and  six  months  at  West 
Point  other  poems,  including  a  revision  of  "Tamerlane," 
were  composed,  to  be  published  in  1831  in  New  York. 
Among  these  were  «  Helen,"  «  The  Doomed  City,"  "  The 
Sleeper,"  "  Lenore,"  and  "  The  Valley  of  Unrest,"  not  all 


Edgar  Allan  Poe  253 

of  them  as  they  now  appear,  but  a  long  stride  ahead  of 
his  Boston  book.  The  forthcoming  power  of  his  weird 
imagination  and  the  enchantment  of  his  unique  diction 
begin  to  show  themselves.     He  might  truly  say : 

"  I  have  reached  these  lands  but  newly 
From  an  ultimate  dim  Thule  — 
From  a  wild,  weird  clime  that  Heth  sublime 
Out  of  space  —  out  of  time." 

And  he  suggests  rather  than  describes  — 

"  Bottomless  vales  and  boundless  floods, 
And  chasms  and  caves  and  Titan  woods, 
With  forms  that  no  man  can  discover 
For  the  dews  that  drip  all  over  ; 
Mountains  toppling  evermore 
Into  seas  without  a  shore  — 
Seas  that  restlessly  aspire. 
Surging  unto  skies  of  fire  — 
Lakes  that  endlessly  outspread 
Their  lone  waters  —  lone  and  dead." 

This  is  the  dreamland,  ghoul-haunted  and  demon- 
peopled,  where  his  sad  eye  wanders,  seeing  shapes  and 
visions  which  come  only  to  one  who  is  afflicted  at  times 
with  intellectual  delirium  tremens.  Then,  again,  he  would 
catch  glimpses  of  seraphic  splendor  and  soar  to  the  zenith 
in  his  song  of  "  Israfel " : 

"  In  heaven  a  spirit  doth  dwell 

Whose  heart  strings  are  a  lute  ; 
None  sings  so  wildly  well 
As  the  angel  Israfel, 
And  the  giddy  stars  (so  legends  tell), 
Ceasing  their  hymns,  attend  the  spell 

Of  his  voice,  all  mute." 

Then  he  feels  the  dragging  of  the  earthly  ball  and  chain, 
and  descends  to  this : 


254  American  Literature 

"  If  I  could  dwell 
Where  Israfel 

Hath  dwelt,  and  he  where  I, 
He  might  not  sing  so  wildly  well 

A  mortal  melody, 
While  a  bolder  note  than  this  might  swell 

From  my  lyre  within  the  sky.'* 

The  verse  is  the  type  of  the  poet  himself,  in  whom 
aspiration  was  always  contending  with  limitation  in  bittet 
strife,  like  Ormuzd  and  Ahriman,  the  good  angel  and  the 
bad  of  the  Persian  myth.  And  sometimes  it  must  have 
seemed  to  him  like  the  single-handed  warfare  of  Michael 
the  archangel  against  the  dragon  and  his  angels,  as  sug- 
gested in  the  verses  on  "  Silence  " : 

"  There  are  some  qualities  —  some  incorporate  things, 

That  have  a  double  life,  which  thus  is  made 
A  type  of  that  twin  entity  which  springs 

From  matter  and  light,  evinced  in  solid  and  shade. 
There  is  a  twofold  Silence  —  sea  and  shore  — 
Body  and  soul.     One  dwells  in  lonely  places 
Newly  with  grass  o'ergrown ;  some  solemn  graces, 
Some  human  memories  and  tearful  lore. 
Render  him  terrorless  :  his  name 's  '  No  More.' 
He  is  corporate  Silence  :  dread  him  not ! 

No  power  hath  he  of  evil  in  himself ; 
But  should  some  urgent  fate  (untimely  lot)  I 

Bring  thee  to  meet  his  shadow  (nameless  elf 
That  haunteth  the  lone  regions  where  hath  trod 
No  foot  of  man),  commend  thyself  to  God  !  " 

Poe's  best  verse  is  too  familiar  to  need  more  than  the 
mention  already  made  of  it.  Two  short  poems,  however, 
should  be  added  as  an  expression  of  what  was  best  in  him 
—  loyalty  to  home  virtues.  The  first  is  the  antithesis  of 
"  Annabel  Lee  " : 


Edgar  Allan  Poe  255 

"  I  dwelt  alone 
In  a  world  of  moan 
And  my  soul  was  a  stagnant  tide, 
Till  the  fair  and  gentle  Eulalie  became  my  blushing  bride  — 
Till  the  yellow-haired  young  Eulalie  became  my  smiling  bride. 

"  Ah,  less  —  less  bright 
The  stars  of  night 
Than  the  eyes  of  the  radiant  girl ! 
And  never  a  flake 
That  the  vapor  can  make 
With  the  moon- tints  of  purple  and  pearl 
Can  vie  with  the  modest  Eulalie's  most  unregarded  curl 
Can  compare  with  the  bright-eyed  Eulalie's  most  humble  and 
careless  curl. 

**  Now  Doubt  —  now  Pain 
Come  never  again, 
For  her  soul  gives  me  sigh  for  sigh 
And  all  the  day  long 
Shines  bright  and  strong, 
Astarte  within  the  sky, 
While  ever  to  her  dear  Eulalie  upturns  her  matron  eye  — 
While  ever  to  her  young  Eulalie  upturns  her  violet  eye." 

And  all  mothers-in-law  should  have  a  kindly  thought 
for  the  man  who  wrote,  "  To  my  Mother  " : 

*'  Because  I  feel  that,  in  the  Heaven  above, 

The  angels  whispering  to  one  another. 
Can  find,  among  their  burning  terms  of  love, 

None  so  devotional  as  that  of  '  Mother,' 
Therefore  by  that  dear  name  I  long  have  called  you  — 

You  who  are  more  than  mother  unto  me, 
And  fill  my  heart  of  hearts,  where  Death  installed  you. 

In  setting  my  Virginia's  spirit  free. 
My  mother  —  my  own  mother  who  died  early, 

Was  but  the  mother  of  myself;  but  you 
Are  mother  to  the  one  I  loved  so  dearly, 

And  thus  are  dearer  than  the  mother  I  knew 
By  that  infinity  with  which  my  wife 
Was  dearer  to  my  soul  than  its  soul-life." 


'2.^6  American  Literature 

The  temptation  will  always  arise  to  join  the  party  of 
accusers  or  of  apologists  so  soon  as  the  element  of  his  per- 
sonal life  mingles  with  the  literature  which  an 

Inheritances. 

author  has  created.  How  far  the  balance  will 
list  to  one  side  or  the  other  depends  in  such  a  case  as  this 
upon  belief  in  heredity  on  the  one  hand,  and  on  the  other 
upon  confidence  in  the  ability  of  the  inheritor  of  evil  bent 
and  bias  to  straighten  the  grain  as  he  grows  up  and  lives 
on.  If,  however,  a  moral  weakness  to  resist  be  added  to 
strong  appetite  in  the  inheritance,  it  would  seem  that  the 
child  should  have  large  allowances  made  for  an  almost 
inevitable  wreck.  Perhaps  in  Poe's  instance  the  lapses  into 
inebriety  were  not  so  culpable  as  the  seeming  perversity 
with  which  he  threw  away  those  opportunities  and  ad- 
vantages which  would  have  gone  far  to  retrieve  a  false 
start  in  life,  for  which  he  was  no  more  responsible  than 
for  the  good  fortune  of  being  born  in  Boston.  Indeed 
throughout  his  checkered  career  he  displayed  remarkable 
facility  for  snubbing  main  chances.  If  he  discovered 
opportunity  sometimes  passing  in  disguise,  he  often  lacked 
instant  decision  to  seize  it,  or  at  least  to  hold  it  until  it 
took  him  to  another.  Judicious  training  in  boyhood  might 
have  taken  some  puzzling  curves  out  of  him.  Nevertheless 
he  contrived  to  live  by  his  pen  for  seventeen  years.  It  is 
the  work  of  that  period  more  than  his  manner  of  life  that 
is  of  present  concern. 

His  successes  began  in  Baltimore  with  winning  a  prize 
of  one  hundred  dollars  offered  by  a  weekly  paper  for  the 
Litera  ^®^^  prose  tale.     This  was  accompanied  by  a 

Career.  poem  which  wouM  havB  taken  another  prize  if 

two  premiums  had  been  allowed  to  go  to  one  author.    The 
recommendation  of  the  committee  of  award  that  he  should 


Edgar  Allan  Poe  257 

print  such  stories  as  lie  had  on  hand  was  a  compensation, 
and  gave  him  an  encouraging  start  with  the  paper  above 
mentioned.  Magazine  editorship  soon  followed,  with  an 
apprenticeship  in  story-writing,  in  which  his  predilection 
for  the  gruesome  and  the  mysterious  and  the  melodramatic 
is  revealed  in  crude  colors. 

Kennedy,  who  stood  literary  sponsor  for  him,  wrote: 
"This  young  fellow  is  highly  imaginative  and  a  little 
given  to  the  terrific,"  but  his  letter  of  recommendation 
helped  Poe  to  secure  a  place  as  assistant  editor  of  the 
"Southern  Literary  Messenger,"  published  at  Eichmond. 
This  in  turn  furnished  a  medium  for  introducing  to  the 
public  his  theory  of  poetry  and  fresh  examples  of  it,  and 
also  of  his  prose-writing.  Any  supposition  that  his  com- 
positions were  gloomy  or  mystical  because  he  himself  was 
in  a  chronic  state  of  depression  is  corrected  by  his  own 
statement  that  pleasure  is  the  object  of  verse,  and  that  the 
pleasure  must  be  subtile  and  its  undertone  melancholy  as 
the  resultant  chord  of  all  human  experiences. 

His  first  venture  in  journalism  was  getting  to  be  fairly 
prosperous  and  full  of  promise  for  the  future  when  one  or 
another  of  his  evil  genii  interrupted  his  de-  p^.^^^ 
votion  to  it,  and  he  threw  away  a  most  import-  '^*^*^' 
ant  opportunity  in  that  it  was  his  first  one.  Had  he  kept 
on  with  this  enterprise  as  he  began,  everything  in  the  way 
of  the  periodical  literature  of  the  time  would  have  been 
open  to  him.  Instead,  he  abandoned  the  "  Messenger  "  and 
Eichmond  for  Philadelphia  and  irregular  contributions  to 
this  paper  and  that.  "  Ligeia,"  "  The  Haunted  Palace," 
"  The  Fall  of  the  House  of  Usher,"  some  "  Literary  Small 
Talk  "  and  book  notices,  with  a  text-book  on  Conchology, 
belong  to  this  period.     By  this  time,  however,  his  stories 

17 


258  American  Literature 

amounted  to  twenty-five  in  number,  and  were  published 
as  his  first  instalment  of  prose.  The  same  characteristics 
are  prominent  as  in  his  verse,  and  even  more  pronoimced. 
He  deals  with  the  realm  of  the  improbable  bordering  on 
the  impossible.  To  this  he  sometimes  gives  the  appear- 
ance of  likelihood  by  attempts  to  account  for  his  invented 
occurrences  on  scientific  principles.  He  also  employs  a 
direct  and  explicit  style,  in  itself  carrying  an  impression 
of  truth.  But  it  is  only  to  give  reality  to  shadows  and 
the  similitude  of  fact  to  that  which  in  the  nature  of  things 
could  not  be.  His  fiction  is  so  much  stranger  than  truth 
that  the  marvellous  invention  is  more  surprising  than  if 
the  story  had  been  true;  just  as  an  artistic  liar's  men- 
dacity is  half  admired  in  the  splendor  of  his  achievement  in 
falsehood.  Yet  the  frequent  charge  that  he  invented 
marvels  in  order  to  explain  them  is  not  always  a  fair 
supposition,  since  he  delighted  in  unravelling  actual  com- 
plications. The  pains  he  took  to  decipher  cryptograms 
which  were  sent  him  in  reply  to  his  statement  that  none 
were  so  abstruse  that  they  could  not  be  read,  indicates  the 
singular  bent  of  his  mind  toward  the  occult.  As  in  his 
verse,  the  titles  of  his  prose  tales  are  full  of  dark  sugges- 
tion and  the  fascination  that  goes  with  it.  "  The  Facts  in 
the  Case  of  M.  Valdemar,"  "  Mesmeric  Eevelation,"  "  The 
Black  Cat,"  "  The  Pit  and  the  Pendulum,"  "The  Fall  of 
the  House  of  Usher,"  "  The  Premature  Burial,"  "  The 
Masque  of  the  Red  Death,"  "The  Murders  in  the  Rue 
Morgue,"  "  The  Mystery  of  Marie  Roget "  —  all  these  and 
others  like  them  are  suggestive  of  enigmas,  disasters,  and 
crimes.  They  are  dark-complexioned  themes,  shadowy 
with  twilight  forms  gliding  on  unholy  errands.  They  give 
glimpses  of  an  outer  limbo  where  the  inhabitants  of 


Edgar  Allan  Poe  259 

another  world  hover  on  the  borders  of  this  with  fell  intent 
or  sad  reminiscence. 

The  stories  themselves  fulfil  the  promise  of  their 
titles.  They  reek  with  horrors.  Delusions  that  prove 
fatal,  remorse  that  follows  involuntary  crime,  ^heir  ghoui- 
tombs  that  are  prisons,  vaults  for  those  who  ^^  character, 
cannot  die,  low-hanging  clouds,  starless  gloom,  trees  sway- 
ing in  windless  air,  cold,  slimy  walls,  vermin-haunted 
dungeons,  despair  and  death  —  these  are  the  lurid  points 
in  a  symphony  of  black  and  red.  Sometimes,  as  in  "  The 
Domain  of  Arnheim,"  there  is  lavished  a  profusion  of 
oriental  color  —  melodies,  odors,  shrubberies,  birds,  flowers, 
silver  streams,  pinnacles,  and  minarets  flashing  in  red  sun- 
light, the  phantom  architecture  of  fairies.  But  oftener 
the  tone  of  the  picture  is  like  this : 

"  From  that  chamber  and  from  that  mansion  I  fled  aghast. 
The  storm  was  still  abroad  in  all  its  wrath  as  I  found  myself 
crossing  the  old  causeway.  Suddenly  there  shot  along  the 
path  a  wild  light.  The  radiance  was  that  of  the  full,  setting, 
and  blood-red  moon.  There  came  a  fierce  breath  of  the  whirl- 
wind; my  brain  reeled  as  I  saw  the  mighty  walls  rushing 
asunder ;  there  was  a  long,  tumultuous  shouting  sound  like  the 
voice  of  a  thousand  waters,  and  the  deep  and  dark  tarn  at  my 
feet  closed  sullenly  and  silently  over  the  fragments  of  the 
House  of  Usher." 

And  this : 

"It  was  then,  however,  that  Prince  Prospero,  maddening 
with  rage  and  the  shame  of  his  own  momentary  cowardice, 
rushed  hurriedly  through  the  six  chambers,  while  none  followed 
him  on  account  of  a  deadly  terror  that  had  seized  upon  all.  He 
bore  aloft  a  drawn  dagger,  and  had  approached,  in  rapid  im- 
petuosity, to  within  three  or  four  feet  of  the  retreating  figure, 
when  the  latter,  having  attained  the  extremity  of  the  velvet 


26o  American  Literature 

apartment,  turned  suddenly  and  confronted  his  pursuer.  There 
was  a  sharp  cry  —  and  the  dagger  dropped  gleaming  upon  the 
sable  carpet,  upon  which,  instantly  afterwards,  fell  prostrate  in 
death  the  Prince  Prospero.  Then  summoning  the  wild  courage 
of  despair,  a  throng  of  revellers  at  once  threw  themselves  into 
the  black  apartment,  and,  seizing  the  mummer,  whose  tall  figure 
stood  erect  and  motionless  within  the  shadow  of  the  ebony 
clock,  gasped  in  unutterable  horror  at  finding  the  grave  cere- 
ments and  corpse-like  mask  which  they  handled  with  so  violent 
a  rudeness,  untenanted  by  any  tangible  form. 

"  And  now  was  acknowledged  the  presence  of  the  Red  Death. 
He  had  come  like  a  thief  in  the  night.  And  one  by  one  dropped 
the  revellers  in  the  blood-bedewed  halls  of  their  revel,  and  died 
each  in  the  despairing  posture  of  his  fall.  And  the  life  of  the 
ebony  clock  went  out  with  that  of  the  last  of  the  gay.  And 
the  flames  of  the  tripod  expired.  And  Darkness  and  Decay  and 
the  Red  Death  held  illimitable  dominion  over  all." 

The  same  might  be  said  of  the  most  of  Poe's  "  Tales." 
Poe  has  had  numerous  imitators,  especially  in  the  line 
of  the  detective  story,  who  have  shown  at  least  how  dan- 
gerous it  is  to  walk  the  narrow  way  which  he  chose  to 
tread,  keeping  himself  by  careful  steps  from  toppling  over 
into  the  depths  of  ludicrous  bathos.  Such  followers  have 
not  been  born  to  be  mystics,  alchemists,  and  jugglers  in 
the  black  art  like  Poe,  in  whose  mind,  as  in  the  seven 
chambers  of  his  Prospero's  castellated  abbey,  there  stalked 
a  multitude  of  weird  dreams  in  the  carnival  of  the  "  Red 
Death."  But  if  one  wishes  now  and  then  to  get  far  out 
of  the  highways  of  literature  into  the  land  which  lies  next 
to  the  unseen  and  the  unknown,  whither  only  one  or  two 
in  a  century  have  gone  and  returned  with  even  a  plausible 
account  of  what  they  have  seen,  then  this  gloomy,  way- 
ward, but  second-sighted  spirit  will  be  the  most  satisfac- 
tory guide. 


Edgar  Allan  Poe  261 

No  man  has  been  so  diversely  understood,  and  there- 
fore abused  and  lauded  by  turns.  Almost  everything  has 
been  charged  upon  him  except  immorality 
and  unkindness  to  his  family.  Possibly  if  his 
biography  had  never  been  written,  especially  by  Rufus 
Griswold,  and  his  works  published  without  comment,  they 
would  now  be  rated  more  nearly  for  what  they  are  worth. 
Above  all,  if  his  slashing  criticisms  of  contemporaries  had 
never  been  printed,  the  opinion  of  him  which  his  fellow 
authors  naturally  formed  would  have  been  more  just,  for 
it  was  as  a  critic  that  he  was  most  notorious  in  his  time. 
In  the  scarcity  of  home-born  judges,  and  in  the  hatred  of 
foreign  censorship  upon  the  early  writers  of  the  century, 
Poe  himself  saw  that  there  was  a  vacancy  to  be  filled  and 
believed  that  he  was  the  man  to  fill  it.  Aside  from  a  cer- 
tain bitterness  acquired  with  what  he  was  pleased  to  con- 
sider his  hard  luck  in  life,  his  teachers  in  criticism  were 
of  the  British  swashbuckler  school  of  a  hundred  years  ago, 
of  whom  only  an  occasional  imitator  can  be  found  at  the 
present  day.  But  in  Poe's  time  the  later  and  better  mode 
had  not  appeared.  Accordingly  he  set  up  one  and  put 
down  another,  following  his  own  likes  and  dislikes. 
Bryant  was  declared  to  be  a  genius,  Longfellow  without 
originality.  His  soul  revolts  at  any  depreciation  of  Bay- 
ard Taylor's  poems,  but  he  says  that  Cooper  is  remarkably 
inaccurate  as  a  general  rule.  Commending  Hawthorne  in 
essentials,  he  thinks  that  his  "  monotone "  will  deprive 
him  of  popular  appreciation,  and  that  William  Ellery 
Channing  has  been  inoculated  with  virus  from  Tennyson 
and  Carlyle.  Those  sometime  neighbors  of  his,  the  **  Lit- 
erati of  New  York,"  some  of  them  his  benefactors,  are 
served  freely  with  his  opinions  about  themselves.     Willis, 


262  American  Literature 

who  did  him  many  good  turns,  is  told  that,  whatever  may 
be  thought  about  his  talents,  he  has  made  a  good  deal  of 
noise  in  the  world ;  that  he  has  failed  as  an  essayist,  and 
has  by  no  means  the  readiness  which  the  editing  of  a 
newspaper  demands,  and  that  vacillation  is  the  leading 
trait  of  his  character  —  as,  the  critic  ought  to  have  added, 
ingratitude  is  of  mine.  If  he  could  say  these  things  of 
one  who  had  found  a  place  for  him  in  the  days  when  he 
was  wandering  from  magazine  to  journal  and  from  news- 
paper offices  to  the  street,  what  might  not  be  expected  to 
fall  on  those  who  had  placed  him  under  no  obligations  to 
themselves  ?  That  depended  upon  his  caprice,  and  this  in 
turn  upon  his  spirits,  and  these  again  upon  circumstances 
over  which  he  is  said  to  have  had  no  control,  and  with 
which  an  outline  of  his  literary  career  has  little  to  do,  if 
the  final  product  was  not  affected.  It  is  this  sum  of  his 
work  in  poems,  stories  and  criticism,  that  has  a  value  of  its 
own  for  those  who  will  appropriate  it  without  too  much 
consideration  of  what  one  and  another  assert  for  or  against 
one  of  the  ablest  and  most  original  of  American  authors. 
It  is  time  to  estimate  him  by  his  works  alone. 

In  the  volume  which  contains  his  critiques  it  is  inter- 
esting to  note  the  list  of  authors  who  were  deemed  worthy 
of  his  notice,  and  how  few  of  them  are  now 
contempo-      amoug  the   number  with   which   a  well-read 

rary  Fame. 

person  is  expected  to  be  familiar.  After  giving 
his  opinion  of  a  few  English  writers,  including  Mrs.  Brown- 
ing, Macaulay,  and  Dickens,  he  soon  takes  up  Bryant, 
Hawthorne,  and  Bayard  Taylor,  but  in  their  company 
are  Eufus  Dawes,  William  Lord,  Henry  B.  Hirst,  Kobert 
Walsh,  and  others  of  equal  promise  in  their  day.  Not 
far  from  Lowell  and  Longfellow  are  the  names  of  Margaret 


Edgar  Allan  Poe  263 

Fuller,  Lucretia  Davidson,  William  Wallace,  Estelle  Anna 
Lewis,  and  Francis  Osgood.  Then  the  "  Literati  of  New 
York"  who  were  considered  as  sufficiently  eminent  to 
deserve  his  strictures  —  what  other  chance  of  future  celeb- 
rity did  some  of  them  have  ?  George  Bush,  Ralph  Hoyt, 
Freman  Hunt,  Anna  Cora  Mowatt,  Laughton  Osborn,  Ann 
S.  Stephens,  Eichard  A.  Locke  and  a  dozen  and  a  half 
more.  Of  them  all  Willis,  Halleck,  and  Margaret  Fuller 
are  the  best  known  after  threescore  years.  It  is  a  com- 
ment on  the  value  of  contemporary  criticism,  at  least  by 
a  single  critic,  that  Poe  had  no  sure  word  of  prophecy  for 
the  survivors  of  a  group  which  has  passed  into  oblivion. 
Hawthorne  did  not  much  outshine  Amelia  Welby,  nor 
Longfellow  Stella  Lewis  in  Poe's  pages,  although  his  stars 
were  apt  to  be  of  the  feminine  gender.  And  yet  Poe  was 
nothing  if  not  critical,  and  was  a  leader  in  this  branch  of 
literature,  in  spite  of  his  assertion  that  Mr.  William  A. 
Jones  "  is  our  most  analytic,  if  not  our  best  critic  (Mr. 
Whipple,  perhaps,  excepted)."  And  of  these  two  the  last 
lingered  longest.  A  question  which  suggests  two  answers 
is,  whether  the  men  and  women  who  in  their  lifetime  en- 
joyed the  praise  of  contemporaries  did  not  receive  as  great 
a  portion  of  comfort  as  those  who  were  appreciated  no 
more  then,  but  are  now  recognized  as  preeminent.  Was 
George  P.  Morris  less  fortunate  than  Nathaniel  Hawthorne, 
and  Christopher  Pease  Cranch  than  Lowell,  and  Thomas 
Dunn  English  than  Longfellow  ?  If  not,  let  the  hundred- 
thousand  edition  writers  of  to-day  make  hay  while  the 
sun  shines,  and  before  night  and  oblivion  come,  and  pos- 
terity with  its  unforeseen  standards  of  measurement. 
How  is  it,  Milton  ?  Have  you  ever  received  more  than 
the  pittance  of  five  pounds  for  "  Paradise  Lost  *'  ?     And, 


264  American  Literature 

Shakespeare,  was  the  competence  you  gained  in  London 
with  some  applause  and  some  hisses  all  the  comfort  you 
have  got  out  of  manuscripts  now  missing  ?  And  Spenser 
and  Chaucer,  Dante,  Virgil,  and  Homer,  what  is  the  value 
to  you  of  appreciation  for  generations  ?  Does  it  offset  the 
abuse  and  neglect  some  of  you  received  in  your  lifetime  ? 

In  fine,  are  you  at  all  conscious,  or  all  unconscious,  of 
the  praise  of  posterity  and  of  your  literary  immortality  ? 


xxni 

JOHN  GREENLEAF  WHITTIER 

It  has  been  seen  that  literary  activity  centred  in  New 
York  during  the  first  third  of  the  century,  as  it  had  pre- 
vailed in  Philadelphia  so  long  as  this  city  was 
the  metropolis  of  the  land  and  capital  of  the  New 
new  nation.  Meanwhile  there  was  less  enter- 
prise among  New  England  writers.  There  was  ability 
enough,  as  there  had  always  been,  but  the  well-worn  chan- 
nels in  which  it  had  run  were  getting  dry.  Theological 
science  is  vast  enough  to  occupy  the  human  mind  forever, 
but  if  it  is  narrowed  to  a  few  points  like  predestination 
and  election  it  may  become  so  deep  that  the  perseverance 
of  the  saints  cannot  fathom  its  mysteries.  After  one 
hundred  and  seventy-five  years  of  discussion  there  was 
little  new  to  be  said,  and  little  interest  or  literature  in 
the  ceaseless  repetition  of  the  old  arguments.  Nothing 
but  chaff  and  dust  came  of  prolonged  thrashing  of  the 
old  straw. 

That  there  was  little  else  to  discuss  was  due  to  the 
inhospitality  of  New  England  toward  outer-world  books. 
Elizabethan  and  Queen  Anne  writers  were  as  the  sons  of 
Belial  in  the  eyes  of  those  who  sat  in  the  receipt  of  cus- 
tom, and  no  large  invoices  of  frivolous  dramas  or  unsanc- 
tified  essays  or  unorthodox  sermons  were  landed  in  Salem 
or  Boston  previous  to  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution  and 

265 


266  American  Literature 

the  beginning  of  our  national  life.  Therefore  the  sceptre 
departed  from  this  Israel  and  went  southward  to  a  more 
hospitable  region,  and  imder  its  patronage  an  early  harvest 
of  literature  followed,  such  as  it  was. 

At  last,  however,  a  revolt  took  place  in  Massachusetts, 
succeeding  one  which  had  sprung  up  in  England  long 
before,  against  a  narrow  and  exclusive  ecclesiasticism. 
Here  it  was  helped  on  by  a  movement  derived  from  a 
larger  one  abroad,  consequent  upon  a  time  of  general 
unrest  and  upheaval.  German  idealism,  French  com- 
munism, and  English  radicalism  began  to  be  heard  of, 
and  the  alert  New  Englander  became  uneasy.  The  inde- 
pendent spirit  which  he  had  inherited  from  Pilgrim  and 
Puritan  had  found  its  legitimate  result  in  civil  liberty 
and  freedom  from  monarchy ;  why  should  he  not  break 
with  the  ecclesiastical  tyranny  of  the  standing  order,  and 
with  its  practical  prohibition  of  foreign  literature  ?  The 
answer  came  to  each  part  of  this  question  almost  simul- 
taneously. The  Unitarian  movement  represented  the 
reaction  from  the  discipline  and  the  bondage  of  a  narrow 
system  of  divinity,  and  a  new  spirit  in  letters  was  a 
secondary  and  legitimate  result. 

Before  observing  the  effect  of  this  reaction  upon  leaders 
in  the  new  movement  toward  a  larger  and  freer  literature 
whittier's  some  attention  should  be  paid  to  a  New  Eng- 
Antecedents  laudcr  wliosc  antecedents  did  not  bind  him  to 
Education.  ^-^^  ^^^^  ^^^  j^^^  traditions  of  the  elders. 
John  Greenleaf  Whittier  as  a  Quaker  had  about  as  much 
in  common  with  the  Puritan  as  a  Samaritan  with  a  Jew. 
He  believed  in  essential  righteousness,  but  not  in  the  He- 
brew criminal  code  for  Englishmen's  sons  and  daughters. 
Consequently  he  had  nothing  to  revolt  against  which  his 


John  Greenleaf  Whittier  267 

forefathers  had  not  been  made  to  hate  by  the  persecutions 
from  the  dominant  class  in  former  generations.  The  sense 
of  narrow  dogmatism  which  gradually  dawned  upon  the 
more  liberally  inclined  of  the  standing  order  was  an  old 
story  to  the  descendants  of  Friends  who  had  been  hauled 
and  whipped  from  town  to  town  at  the  tail  of  a  cart  as 
the  mildest  of  penalties  for  aspiring  to  the  exclusive  right 
of  first  settlers  to  worship  God  according  to  their  con- 
science. He  had  no  break  to  effect  with  the  prevailing 
doctrinal  sentiment.  His  ancestors  were  born  opposing 
it  and  fared  accordingly.  And  when  at  last  the  early 
springtime  of  a  new  literature  came,  the  first  bluebird  note 
of  it  on  the  chilly  eastern  coast  was  the  song  of  the 
Quaker  poet  in  the  valley  of  the  Merrimac.  It  was  not 
the  outcry  of  a  restless  spirit  struggling  with  convictions 
inbred  from  generation  to  generation,  but  a  simple  strain 
of  melody,  such  as  had  been  heard  before  at  intervals 
from  Theocritus  to  Burns.  The  Essex  county  boy,  far 
from  neighbors,  but  close  to  nature  had  been  born  with 
the  rhyming  gift,  and  with  that  other  faculty  which 
creates  the  poetry  that  is  more  than  verse.  The  rhyme 
came  first,  to  be  sure,  and  with  it  the  aspiration  for  some- 
thing better  than  the  dull  round  of  farm  life,  in  his 
instance  not  to  be  gratified  in  the  usual  advantages  of 
prolonged  academic  education.  His  was  rather  the  school- 
ing of  public  libraries,  the  printing  office,  and  later  of  the 
editorial  chair  —  the  place  where  so  many  of  our  early 
authors  were  obliged  to  earn  the  living  which  made  their 
lighter  labors  possible. 

Whittier,  however,  was  not  so  entirely  a  poet  that  he 
could  not  do  yeoman  service  on  a  newspaper.  His  prac- 
tical interest  in  public  affairs  and  politics  was  serviceable 


268  American  Literature 

to  his  party  and  to  himself,  placing  him  in  the  legislature 
of  his  native  state  and  winning  him  successive  positions 
of  influence  in  one  editorial  office  after  another.  Other 
serial  publications  than  his  own  were  open  to  his  verse, 
and  literary  fame  began  to  reward  his  early  efiforts  and 
betoken  better  things  to  come. 

The  production  of  this  newspaper  period  of  his  poetical 
composition  was  what  might  be  expected  from  a  farm-bred 
Early  joujig  man  of  northeastern  Massachusetts.     In 

Efforts.  common  with  most  American  writers  of  that 

generation  he  believed  that  there  was  a  wealth  of  Indian 
tradition  which  might  be  turned  into  the  riches  of  Ameri- 
can verse.  In  the  first  complete  collection  of  his  poems 
Whittier  placed  the  "  Bridal  of  Pennacook  "  at  the  begin- 
ning, as  if  typifying  his  earliest  poetic  ambition,  finding 
the  legend  on  the  banks  of  his  own  Merrimac,  thus 
indicating  that  he  would  not  go  far  afield  for  themes. 
Like  Scott,  and  Irving  afterward,  he  introduces  the  old- 
fashioned  "chronicle  of  border  wars"  to  give  an  air  of 
credibility  to  a  legend  which  might  as  well  have  been 
gathered  from  the  landlord  of  the  mountain  inn  as  from 
the  fourth  book  in  his  representative  library  of  "  Bunyan, 
Watts,  and  a  file  of  almanacs."  But  this  was  a  custom 
of  the  time.  The  apostrophe  to  the  river  which  flowed 
unbridged  and  unobstructed  from  mountain  to  sea  is  in 
the  truer  manner  of  a  dweller  on  its  banks.  So  also  is 
the  description  of  lodge  and  wigwam,  decorated  with 
spoils  of  chase  and  war  and  of  the  chief's  magic  skill  and 
the  daughter's  woodland  freedom  and  love ;  of  the  wed- 
ding feast  to  the  river  sagamores  and  the  sachems  from 
the  crystal  hills  to  the  far  southeast.  The  story  of  Indian 
pride,  always  greater  than  Indian  love,  carries  with  it  the 


John  Greenleaf  Whittier  269 

gloom  which  belongs  to  the  forest  pagan  even  in  his  days 
of  peace.  And  in  his  hour  of  treachery  and  blood  "  Mogg 
Magone"  shows  how  dark  was  the  strife  and  dire  the 
revenge  and  bitter  the  hate  between  the  savage  and  the 
encroaching  alien. 

"  He  laughs  at  his  jest.    Hush  —  what  is  there  ?  — 
The  sleeping  Indian  is  striving  to  rise, 
With  his  knife  in  his  hand,  and  glaring  eyes !  — 
*  Wagh  I  —  Mogg  will  have  the  pale-face's  hair, 
For  his  knife  is  sharp  and  his  fingers  can  help 

The  hair  to  pull  and  the  skin  to  peel  — 

Let  him  cry  like  a  woman  and  twist  like  an  eel, 
The  great  Captain  Scamman  must  lose  his  scalp  I 

And  Ruth  when  she  sees  it  shall  dance  with  Mogg.* 
His  eyes  are  fixed  —  but  his  lips  draw  in  — 
With  a  low,  hoarse  chuckle,  and  fiendish  grin  — 

And  he  sinks  again,  like  a  senseless  dog. 

"  Ruth  starts  erect  —  with  bloodshot  eye, 

And  lips  drawn  tight  across  her  teeth, 

Showing  their  locked  embrace  beneath, 
In  the  red  fire-light :  —  '  Mogg  must  die  ! 

Give  me  the  knife  !  *  —  The  outlaw  turns, 
Shuddering  in  heart  and  limb,  away  — 

But,  fitfully  there,  the  hearth-fire  burns, 
And  he  sees  on  the  wall  strange  shadows  play, 

A  lifted  arm,  a  tremulous  blade. 

Are  dimly  pictured  in  light  and  shade, 
Plunging  down  in  the  darkness.    Hark,  that  cry  ! 

Again  —  and  again  —  he  sees  it  fall  — 

That  shadowy  arm  down  the  lighted  wall ! 
He  hears  quick  footsteps  —  a  shape  flits  by  — 

The  door  on  its  rusted  hinges  creaks  :  — 
*  Ruth  —  daughter  Ruth  ! '  the  outlaw  shrieks 

But  no  sound  comes  back  —  he  is  standing  alone 

By  the  mangled  corse  of  Mogg  Magone  !  '* 

So  the  "  Legendary  Poems  "  hint  of  a  remote  time  when 
the  Norseman  touched  upon  this  dreary  coast  and  sailed 


270  American  Literature 

away,  and  of  a  later  age  when  Puritan  Endicott  offered  a 
Quaker  maiden  to  any  sea  captain  who  would  take  her 
Legend  in  ^°  Barbados  to  sell  for  "higher  price  than 
Verse.  Indian  girl  or  Moor."     Then  the  poet  turns  to 

aboriginal  story  "  around  Sebago's  lonely  lake  "  or  in  more 
distant  Acadia,  where  French  and  English  contend  for 
dominion,  or  to  nearer  Pentucket  and  the  midnight  raid 
of  painted  savages,  or  the  daylight  swoop  of  priest  and 
sheriff  upon  Goodman  Macey's  cottage  for  the  Quaker 
who  had  taken  refuge  from  the  coming  storm.  In  all 
this  the  past  of  the  country  with  which  the  poet  was 
familiar  is  recalled  and  clothed  with  its  traditions  and 
its  liistory.  Not  as  prosy  chronicler  and  annalist  had 
depicted  it  for  Englishmen  at  home  or  for  posterity,  but 
as  fact  and  fancy  were  blended  in  the  mind  of  the  first 
New  Englander  who  was  lifted  above  the  hard,  restrained 
life  of  the  eastern  seaboard  to  discover  and  use  the  scant 
material  for  poetry  which  lay  in  its  valleys  and  on  its 
hillsides.  This  Whittier  saw  and  made  the  most  of  it. 
To  the  citizen  of  the  middle  or  southern,  states  it  seemed 
unfertile  and  poor  as  the  soil  in  Essex  pastures,  but  to 
the  youths  who  ranged  over  them  and  are  now  young  in 
memory  only,  the  verse  of  their  native  poet  will  always 
have  the  flavor  of  the  sea,  the  river,  and  the  moun- 
tains, as  Bryant's  will  have  of  the  woods  and  hills  of 
Hampshire. 

This  to  the  Merrimac  —  the  river  that  flows  through 
the  region  of  his  early  song: 

"  Stream  of  my  fathers  1  sweetly  still 
The  sunset  rays  thy  valley  fill ; 
Poured  slantwise  down  the  long  defile, 
Wave,  wood  and  spire  beneath  them  smile. 


John  Greenleaf  Whittier  271 

The  green  hill  in  its  belt  of  gold, 
And  following  down  its  wavy  line, 
Its  sparkling  waters  blend  with  thine. 
There  's  not  a  tree  upon  thy  side, 
Nor  rock,  which  thy  returning  tide 
As  yet  hath  left  abrupt  and  stark 
Above  thy  evening  water  mark  ; 
No  calm  cove  with  its  rocky  hem, 
No  isle  whose  emerald  swells  begem 
Thy  broad  smooth  current ;  not  a  sail 
Bowed  to  the  freshening  ocean-gale  ; 
No  small  boat  with  its  busy  oars, 
Nor  gray  wall  sloping  to  thy  shores  ; 
No  farm  house  with  its  maple  shade, 
Or  rigid  poplar  colonnade, 
But  lies  distinct  and  full  in  sight, 
Beneath  this  gush  of  sunset  light." 

This  legendary  poetry  and  the  ambition  to  develop 
whatever  possibilities  lay  beneath  a  barren  surface  both 
received  a  check  in  the  poet's  manifest  call  to  ..voices of 
enlist  in  the  anti-slavery  movement  which  was  ^^««<*°™-" 
starting  in  1833.  Colonization  in  Liberia  was  its  first 
outcome,  with  Henry  Clay  as  president  of  the  society 
having  the  enterprise  in  charge.  But  as  this  scheme  pro- 
vided for  freedmen  only,  it  appeared  to  meet  the  rising 
issue  but  partially.  The  pamphlet  which  Whittier  wrote 
is  the  prose  statement  of  his  views,  but  "Kandolph  of 
Koanoke  "  was  the  beginning  of  his  service  in  verse  to  the 
cause  he  had  undertaken  to  champion,  at  the  cost  of 
everything  to  which  he  had  aspired.  From  this  time  his 
pen  was  busy  in  writing  "  Voices  of  Freedom."  The 
pecuniary  unprofitableness  of  these  was  counterbalanced 
by  the  growing  response  they  elicited  from  the  North. 
Their  titles  in  the  next  four  years  include  "Toussaint 
L'Ouverture,"  "  The  Yankee  Girl,"  « The  Slave  Mother's 


272  American  Literature 

Lamect,"  "Our  Fellow  Countrymen  in  Chains,"  "The 
Hunters  of  Men,"  "  Song  of  the  Free "  and  several  not 
found  among  his  collected  poems.  In  them  all  the  pur- 
pose of  the  poet  is  clear  and  strong,  even  if  the  per- 
formance is  not  always  artistic.  It  was  not  a  time  when 
a  reformer  like  Whittier  could  dally  with  art.  A  great 
battle  was  to  be  fought,  and  the  devoted  soldier  could  not 
always  stop  to  burnish  his  weapons.  It  was  enough  for 
him  if  his  shots  raised  a  cheer :  it  was  much  the  same  to 
him  if  they  called  forth  a  howl  of  rage.  Their  very  rough- 
ness made  some  of  his  verses  appeal  to  the  boys  in  blue  as 
more  correct  measures  and  exact  rhymes  did  not. 

In  particular  this  was  true  of  his  verses  in  the  war 
period.  It  matters  not  if  the  most  popular  of  them  is 
founded  upon  a  newspaper  report  of  doubtful 
authenticity,  or  that  its  movement  is  some- 
times forward  and  back,  marching  and  halting  like 
Stonewall's  troops.  It  has  in  it  the  spirit  of  reverence  for 
the  country's  flag  in  spite  of  temporary  disloyalty,  and 
also  of  honor  for  Barbara  Frietchie's  defiant  patriotism. 
The  poetic  idea  is  there,  and  a  ruling  sentiment  of  the 
nation  in  sufficient  abundance  to  furnish  a  drama  to  full 
houses  night  after  night.  Generation  after  generation  of 
children  will  recite  it  as  they  run  "  Old  Glory  "  up  the 
flag-staff,  and  learn  the  lessons  of  loyalty  to  it  in  the 
partiotic  literature  of  their  country.  Early  in  the  war 
the  note  of  forbearance  and  patience  is  apparent,  as  in 
his  «  Word  for  the  Hour,"  and  "  The  Watchers ; "  faith  is 
strong  in  "Astraea,"  and  hope  in  "  Mithridates,"  and 
charity  in  the  "  Anniversary  Poem."  But  in  them  all  is 
the  purpose  to  help  on  the  triumph  of  consistency  in  a 
nation  professing  to  be  free  and  the  home  of  the  world's 


John  Greenleaf  Whittier  273 

oppressed.  So  earnest  was  he  in  these  contributions  of 
his  to  the  strife  that  the  thought  was  of  more  account 
than  the  word,  and  the  meaning  of  his  own  verse  than 
the  form  of  it.  The  end  of  it  all  is  declared  in  the  lines 
to  the  flag  at  the  capitol : 

**  I  knew  that  truth  would  crush  the  lie,  — 
Somehow,  Sometime  the  end  would  be; 
Yet  scarcely  dared  I  hope  to  see 
The  triumph  with  my  mortal  eye. 

"  But  now  I  see  it !    In  the  sun 

A  free  flag  floats  from  yonder  dome, 
And  at  the  nation's  hearth  and  home 
The  justice  long  delayed  is  done. 

♦*  Not  as  we  hoped,  in  calm  of  prayer. 
The  message  of  deliverance  comes. 
But  heralded  by  roll  of  drums 
On  waves  of  battle-troubled  air  I  — 

"  Not  as  we  hoped ;  —  but  what  are  we  ? 
Above  our  broken  dreams  and  plans 
G-od  lays,  with  wiser  hand  than  man's 
The  corner-stones  of  Hberty." 

The  war  over  and  the  strain  past,  the  poet  turned 
toward  the  fields  and  memories  of  youth  with  greater 
leisure  to  do  more  finished  work.  He  could  poemsofthe 
now  write  without  the  stress  of  agitating  re-  Countryside, 
form  upon  him  those  poems  in  which  the  rural  heart 
rejoices  in  country  or  city.  Peace  had  not  been  six 
months  declared  when  he  began  to  write  what  he  called 
"Snow-Bound:  A  Winter  Idyl;  A  Homely  Picture  of 
Old  New  England  Homes."  Winter  on  the  Massa- 
chusetts coast  has  had  a  few  apologists  and  countless 
maligners;  but  none  has  more  lovingly  portrayed  its 
warm  side  or  more  faithfully  exhibited  its  bleak  side, 

18 


274  American  Literature 

giving  to  this  also  something  of  the  softness  and  warmth 
of  a  snowdrift  to  a  roystering,  rod-cheeked  boy  and  his 
frolicsome  dog.  Outside  it  is  the  carnival  of  the  storm ; 
within  it  is  the  picture  of  comfort  and  safety  beneath  the 
chill  and  the  depth  of  overwhelming  snows.  It  is  the 
war  song  of  the  New  England  farmer  in  conflict  with  his 
winter,  with  a  strain  of  joy  through  it  all  and  of  victory 
at  the  end.  Only  a  farmer's  boy  could  have  known  what 
to  write,  and  a  true  poet  only  could  have  set  the  snow 
scene  in  such  verse. 

Side  by  side  with  **  Snow-Bound "  should  always  be 
placed  the  summer  marine  view  of  "The  Tent  on  the 
Beach."  Good  as  he  modestly  thought  the  first,  he  hoped 
to  make  the  second  still  better.  The  one  brought  him 
ten  thousand  dollars ;  the  other  was  sold  at  the  rate  of 
a  thousand  copies  a  day.  His  poetic  ambition  was  more 
than  gratified,  and  prosperity  crowned  his  later  years. 
But  he  had  known  the  dull  and  heavy  dreariness  of  farm 
life,  which  does  not  always  give  strength  to  those  who, 
like  the  Libyan  giant,  keep  in  contact  with  the  earth.  In 
his  prelude  to  the  poem  "  Among  the  Hills "  he  brings 
out  the  real  side  of  farming  in  contrgist  to  what  idealism 
it  may  have  in  the  poem  itself,  which  he  at  first  intended 
to  make  a  companion  idyl  to  "  Snow-Bound  "  : 

"  —  I  know- 
Too  well  the  picture  has  another  side,  — 
How  wearily  the  grind  of  toil  goes  on 
Where  love  is  wanting,  how  the  eye  and  ear 
And  heart  are  starved  amidst  the  plentitude 
Of  nature,  and  how  hard  and  colorless 
Is  life  without  an  atmosphere.     I  look 
Across  the  lapse  of  half  a  century, 
And  call  to  mind  old  homesteads,  where  no  flower 
Told  that  spring  had  come,  but  evil  weeds, 


John  Greenleaf  Whittier  275 

Nightshade  and  rough-leaved  burdock  in  the  place 
Of  the  sweet  doorway  greeting  of  the  rose 
And  honeysuckle,  where  house  walls  seemed 
Blistering  in  the  sun,  without  a  tree  or  vine 
To  cast  the  tremulous  shadow  of  its  leaves 
Across  the  curtainless  windows,  from  whose  panes 
Fluttered  the  signal  rags  of  shiftlessness. 

"  And  in  sad  keeping  with  all  things  about  them, 
Shrill,  querulous  women,  sour  and  sullen  men, 
Untidy,  loveless,  old  before  their  time, 
With  scarce  a  human  interest  save  their  own 
Monotonous  round  of  small  economies, 
Or  the  poor  scandal  of  the  neighborhood. 

"  Church  goers,  fearful  of  the  unseen  Powers, 
But  grumbling  over  pulpit-tax  and  pew-rent, 
Saving,  as  shrewd  economists,  their  souls 
And  winter  pork  with  the  least  possible  outlay 
Of  salt  and  sanctity  ;  in  daily  life 
Showing  as  little  comprehension 
Of  Christian  charity  and  duty. 
As  if  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  had  been 
Outdated  like  a  last  year's  almanac. 

*'  Not  such  should  be  the  homesteads  of  a  land 
Where  whoso  wisely  wills  and  acts  may  dwell 
As  king  and  lawgiver,  in  broad-acred  state  * 

With  beauty,  art,  taste,  culture,  books,  to  make 
His  hour  of  leisure  richer  than  a  life 
Of  fourscore  to  the  barons  of  old  time." 

Whichever  aspect  of  country  life  the  poet  delineates  he 
will  always  find  readers  who  have  seen  or  heard  enough 
about  it  to  recognize  the  fidelity  of  his  description,  and  to 
he  pleased  with  what  they  could  not  have  so  truly  done 
themselves.  Consequently,  he  is  the  country  people's 
poet  more  than  any  other,  and  the  song-maker  of  all  who 
love  the  country  from  one  month  to  twelve,  according  to 
time  and  opportunity  or  even  necessity.    Fortimately,  he 


27^  American  Literature 

wrote  enough  to  last  days  and  weeks,  since  poetry  should 
be  read  in  limited  quantities  to  be  best  appreciated.  The 
variety  of  his  themes,  and  their  treatment  also,  prevent 
the  weariness  of  monotony ;  mediocre  performance  some- 
times affording  the  relief  of  change  from  the  greater  strain 
and  the  surpassing  excellence  of  his  best  achievement.  But 
no  one  can  read  his  poems  in  course  or  at  random  with- 
out knowing  that  early  and  late  he  was  the  tuneful  voice 
of  his  province  recalling  its  forest  legends,  uttering  its 
protests  for  righteousness,  and  finally  chanting  its  anthems 
of  the  sea  and  the  storm,  ending  in  the  cadences  of  even- 
ing as  his  sun  went  down  in  peace,  and  with  these  words 
from  «  The  Shadow  and  the  Light " : 

"  Shine  on  us  with  the  light  which  glowed 
Upon  the  trance-bound  shepherd's  way. 
Who  saw  the  darkness  overflowed 

And  drowned  by  tides  of  everlasting  day." 

The  man  will  always  be  remembered  as  even  greater 
than  his  work,  good  and  effective  as  that  was  in  the 
cause  of  truth  and  humanity.  Much  that  might  be  said 
of  his  sterling  virtues  and  his  true  poetry  may  best  be 
summed  up  in  a  stanza  of  Holmes's  tribute  to  his  com- 
panion gone : 

"  Best  loved  and  saintliest  of  our  singing  train, 
Earth's  noblest  tributes  to  thy  name  belong, 
A  lifelong  record  closed  without  a  stain, 

A  blameless  memory  shrined  in  deathless  song." 


XXIV 

HENRY  WADSWORTH  LONGFELLOW 

The  poets  mentioned  in  previous  chapters  who  achieved 
distinction  accomplished  this  by  dealing  with  home  topics 
and  scenes.  Even  Poe's  "  No  Man's  Land  "  was  j^^^^^^^^^^ 
within  the  jurisdiction  of  the  United  States,  loirSsof 
although  not  put  down  on  its  maps  or  charts.  ^°**''y- 
Bryant's  song  began  in  the  western  counties  of  Massa- 
chusetts, Whittier's  on  the  Bay.  The  Green  river  ran 
through  the  verses  of  the  first,  the  Merrimac  through  those 
of  the  other,  and  the  New  England  atmosphere  pervades 
both.  In  both  was  the  development  of  domestic  themes, 
in  which  the  new  country  was  supposed  to  be  so  rich  that 
the  poet  and  the  novelist  need  never  look  elsewhere  for 
raw  material.  By  and  by  the  suspicion  arose  that  it  was 
too  raw.  The  utmost  patriotism  became  tired  of  calling 
the  goose  a  swan  and  the  crow  a  raven  and  the  whippoor- 
will  a  nightingale.  The  very  insistence  in  doing  this  was 
a  tribute  to  the  foreign  bird  in  each  instance,  and  when 
popular  taste  began  to  get  beyond  juvenility  and  its  own 
door  yard  it  looked  over  the  hills  and  across  the  sea  toward 
the  wealth  of  tradition  and  history  out  of  which  most  of 
the  world's  poetry  is  coined. 

The  man  to  meet  this  return  of  instinctive  feeling,  and 
to  inspire  it  also,  was  a  Portland  graduate  of  Bowdoin 
College,  a  little  farther  down  east.    Yet  his  antecedents 

277 


278  American  Literature 

were  of  the  Bay,  the  maternal  line  running  back  to  John 
Alden  and  Priscilla  at  Plymouth,  his  father  and  grand- 
Education  father  being  graduates  of  Harvard.  If  the 
and  Travel.  ^^^^  missed  anything  in  not  following  the 
family  precedents  in  education,  he  doubtless  made  it  up 
as  professor  in  the  university  for  seventeen  years,  to 
which  he  was  called  five  years  after  leaving  his  alma 
mater,  where  he  had  served  an  apprenticeship  for  two 
years  in  a  similar  capacity. 

But  his  first  post-collegiate  study  was  in  the  greater 
schools  of  Europe,  whither  he  went  to  prepare  himself  for 
the  chair  of  modern  languages  at  Bowdoin.  Three  years 
of  residence  and  travel  overflowed  in  "  Outre-Mer,"  the 
first  of  his  books  not  a  translation.  The  title  itself  was 
significant  of  his  mission  to  his  countrymen.  From  beyond 
the  sea  he  was  to  bring  them  the  treasures  of  old  world 
story  and  song,  but  first  he  would  tell  them  how  the  for- 
eign towns  and  cities,  mountains  and  rivers,  castles  and 
abbeys,  towers  and  spires  looked  to  an  American  youth 
whose  head  was  already  well  stocked  with  their  lore  >  and 
legends.  Irving's  example  and  "  Sketch  Book  "  were  be- 
fore him,  as  he  frankly  confesses  at  Gottingen  in  1829 : 
"I  am  writing  a  kind  of  'Sketch  Book'  of  scenes  in 
France,  Spain,  and  Italy."  The  "Conquest  of  Granada" 
and  the  "  Alhambra  "  are  recalled  as  one  reads : 

"  The  burnished  armor  of  the  Cid  stands  in  the  archives  of 
the  royal  museum  at  Madrid,  and  there,  too,  is  seen  the  armor 
of  Ferdinand  and  Isabel,  of  Guzman  the  Good  and  Gonzalo  de 
Cordova ;  but  what  hand  shall  now  wield  the  sword  of  Campea- 
dor  or  lift  up  the  banner  of  Leon  and  Castile  1  The  ruins  of 
Christian  castle  and  Moorish  alcazar  still  look  forth  from  the  hills 
of  Spain ;  but  where  is  the  spirit  of  freedom  that  once  fired  the 
children  of  the  Goth  1    Shall  it  never  beat  high  again  in  the 


Henry  Wadsworth  Longfellow        279 

hearts  of  their  degenerate  sons  ?  Shall  the  descendants  of  Pelayo 
bow  forever  beneath  an  iron  yoke,  like  cattle  whose  despair  is 
dumbl" 

France  suggests  many  observations,  but  in  his  chapter  on 
the  Trouvferes  and  the  literature  of  song  in  the  olden  time 
the  youthful  poet  is  revelling  in  the  sources  whence  he  will 
draw  both  material  and  inspiration  in  the  years  to  come. 
Kome  and  the  Italian  cities  roused  the  same  spirit  of  re- 
flection upon  their  stratified  history  in  1827  as  they  will 
this  year  and  always,  but  the  story  of  it  was  fresher  to 
Americans  three-quarters  of  a  century  ago  than  it  is  to-day. 
Comparatively  few  of  his  countrymen  had  made  the  Conti- 
nental pilgrimage,  and  the  poet  felt  himself  commissioned 
to  bring  out  of  Europe  all  that  he  could  carry  to  America. 
It  is  significant  of  his  comprehensive  purpose  to  introduce 
a  wider  culture  for  his  fellow  citizens  that  a  translation  of 
a  French  grammar  was  the  first  fruit  of  his  stay  abroad,  to 
be  followed  by  a  version  of  a  Spanish  play.  And  then 
came  the  journal  of  his  tour  in  the  book  already  mentioned, 
published  in  parts  in  1833-1834  and  in  two  volumes  the 
following  year.  "  Hyperion  "  appeared  five  years  later,  a 
romance  version  of  his  wanderings,  gathering  up  the  fancies 
which  do  not  so  well  adjust  themselves  to  a  notebook  as 
to  a  love  story,  especially  if  the  principal  characters  be  the 
author  himself  and  his  future  wife.  It  is  the  harvest  of 
travel  in  Germany  and  Switzerland,  as  "  Outre-Mer  "  had 
been  of  loiterings  along  the  Mediterranean  shore.  Ehine 
legends  and  Alpine  scenery  alternate  with  songs  of  river 
and  mountain,  vintage  time  and  university  hall,  inter- 
spersed with  bits  of  philosophy,  criticism,  biography,  and 
history.  The  chapter  on  Goethe,  but  just  dead,  must  have 
turned  students  toward  the  "  many-sided  master  mind  of 


2  8o  American  Literature 

Germany,"  and  have  given  a  fresh  impulse  to  studies  in  a 
literature  which  a  few  American  scholars  like  Bancroft 
and  Everett  were  opening  to  their  countrymen. 

"  *  Your  English  critics  may  rail  as  they  list/  said  the  Baron, 
*  hut  after  all,  Goethe  was  a  magnificent  old  fellow.  Only  think 
of  his  life;  his  youth  of  passion,  alternately  aspiring  and  de- 
sponding, stormy,  impetuous,  headlong;  —  his  romantic  man- 
hood, in  which  passion  assumes  the  form  of  strength ;  assiduous, 
careful,  toiling,  without  haste,  without  rest ;  —  and  his  sublime 
old  age,  —  the  age  of  serene  and  classic  repose,  where  he  stands 
like  Atlas,  as  Claudian  has  painted  him  in  the  Battle  of  the 
Giants,  holding  the  world  aloft  upon  his  head,  the  ocean-streams 
hard  frozen  in  his  hoary  locks.' 

*'  'A  good  illustration  of  what  the  world  calls  his  indifferentism.* 

*'  *And  do  you  know  I  rather  like  this  indifferentism  ?  Did  you 
never  have  the  misfortune  to  live  in  a  community,  where  a  diffi- 
culty in  a  parish  seemed  to  announce  the  end  of  the  world  ?  or 
to  know  one  of  the  benefactors  of  the  human  race  in  the  very 
*'  storm  and  pressure  "  period  of  his  indiscreet  enthusiasm  1  If 
you  have,  I  think  you  will  see  something  beautiful  in  the  calm 
and  dignified  attitude  which  the  old  philosopher  assumes.* 

"  *  It  is  a  pity  that  his  admirers  had  not  a  little  of  this  philo- 
sophic coolness.  It  amuses  me  to  read  the  various  epithets 
which  they  apply  to  him.' 

"  '  His  enemies  rush  to  the  other  extreme,  and  hurl  at  him  the 
fierce  names  of  Old  Humbug  !  and  Old  Heathen  !'.... 

"*  Well,  call  him  what  you  please  ;  I  maintain,  that,  with  all 
his  errors  and  shortcomings,  he  was  a  glorious  specimen  of  a 
man.' 

" '  He  certainly  was.  Did  it  ever  occur  to  you  that  he  was  in 
some  points  like  Ben  Eranklin,  —  a  kind  of  rhymed  Ben 
Franklin]  The  practical  tendency  of  his  mind  was  the  same; 
his  benignant,  philosophic  spirit  was  the  same;  and  a  vast 
number  of  his  little  poetic  maxims  and  soothsayings  seem  nothing 
more  than  the  worldly  wisdom  of  Poor  Richard,  versified.* 

"  *  What  most  offends  me  is,  that  now  every  German  jackass 
must  have  a  kick  at  the  dead  Uon. '  " 


Henry  Wadsworth  Longfellow        281 

Longfellow's  first  volume  of  poems  was  published  in  the 
same  year,  1839.  He  called  it  "  Voices  of  the  Night," 
perhaps  with  a  young  man's  paradoxical  inclination  toward 
sombre  reflection.  Possibly  it  was  a  trace  of  the  Puritan 
gloom  which  delighted  in  the  shadows  of  Dr.  Young's 
"  Night  Thoughts,"  —  for  the  Cambridge  poet  was  not  one 
to  obtrude  a  personal  sorrow  into  his  verse  at  the  age  of 
thirty-two.  Whatever  was  the  reason  for  the  title,  the 
"  Hymn  to  Night "  and  the  "  Midnight  Mass  of  the  Dying 
Year  "  and  the  "  Light  of  Stars  "  are  not  songs  of  the  day. 
Even  the  "  Beleaguered  City,"  with  its  moral  of  the  dawn, 
is  chilly  and  damp  with  spectral  mists,  put  to  flight  not  by 
the  rising  sun,  but  the  cathedral  bell.  He  is  not  yet  free 
from  the  solemnity  of  the  "  Earlier  Poems  "  of  fifteen  years 
before,  when  Bryant's  sober  and  solemn  mood  had  acknowl- 
edged attraction  for  him  as  he  wrote  "  Autumn  "  and  the 
"  Woods  in  Winter." 

With  "  Ballads  and  Other  Poems,"  published  in  1841,  a 
new  spirit  is  apparent.  "The  Skeleton  in  Armor" 
bristles  with  the  spears  of  Viking  ancestors,  and  is  linked 
to  ages  which  were  prehistoric  on  the  American  coast.  In 
this,  as  in  his  translation  of  "  Eridthofs  Saga  "  and  "  Study 
of  Anglo-Saxon,"  he  directed  contemporaries  to  a  Scandi- 
navian mythology  which  rivals  that  of  southern  Europe  and 
the  ancients,  and  has  special  interest  for  the  descendants 
of  the  Norsemen.  Incidentally  he  showed  that  his  culture 
was  wide  as  the  literature  of  Europe  could  make  it.  This 
he  was  glad  to  introduce  to  the  children  of  those  who  had 
pushed  the  dominion  of  the  Gothic  race  across  the  Atlantic. 
He  called  their  attention  to  the  rude  and  strong  elements 
of  a  primitive  faith  and  a  primeval  verse,  to  myth  and 
edda,  saga  and  song  of  scald. 


282  American  Literature 

His  inherited  love  of  the  sea,  fostered  by  a  boyhood  on 

the  Maine  coast,  appears  here  and  there  in  poems  like 

"The  Wreck   of   the   Hesperus"  on   the  reef 

v/ZiT       '  of  Norman's  Woe,  "  The  Bird  and  the  Ship," 

Poems.  ^ 

"  The  Buildmg  of  the  Ship,"  « Sir  Humphrey 
Gilbert,"  "  The  Lighthouse,"  and  the  rest  of  the  group 
"By  the  Seaside."  Still  it  is  apparent  that  he  did  not 
delight  in  storm  and  wreck  and  the  tragedies  of  the  ocean  ; 
neither  in  battle  and  war  nor  any  kind  of  strife.  He  was 
a  poet  of  peace  and  of  the  home  virtues  and  the  heart's 
affections.  The  patient  endeavor  of  the  "  Psalm  of  Life," 
the  youthful  aspiration  of  "  Excelsior,"  the  resignation 
of  the  "  Eainy  Day,"  the  immortal  hope  of  "  God's  Acre," 
are  all  simple  in  theme  and  unambitious  in  treatment, 
yet  they  have  been  as  the  voice  of  their  own  hearts  to 
thousands  who  read  poetry  for  what  it  is  worth  to  them  in 
sentiment  rather  than  in  high  art  or  mystic  suggestion. 
The  day  has  not  yet  arrived  when  a  poet  to  be  great  and 
famous  must  write  in  a  diction  that  needs  a  neighborhood 
club  to  interpret  his  Orphic  lines.  And  yet  there  was  no 
affected  simpleness  in  this  poet's  simplicity,  no  insipid 
flatness  into  which  Wordsworth  sometimes  descended  in 
his  zeal  for  a  new  poetic  theory. 

Longfellow's  own  idea  of  a  poet's  mission  is  stated  in 
the  "  Belfry  of  Bruges,"  whose  old-world  suggestions  are 
like  cathedral  chimes  in  the  traveller's  memory,  illustrat- 
ing also  the  author's  favorite  manner  of  bringing  a  homely 
truth  to  the  minds  of  his  readers  through  foreign  legend  or 
picture.  In  this  instance  he  compares  the  rhymes  of  the 
poet  to  the  stricken  hours  at  night  falling  unnoticed  on 
the  drowsy  ears  of  the  multitude,  on  roofs  and  stones  of 
cities.     Only  here  and  there  some  sleepless  wight  may 


Henry  Wads  worth  Longfellow         283 

listen  to  the  melody,  till  he  hears  thoughts  long  cherished 
intermingled  with  the  song.     But  the  song  itself  is : 

*'  In  Bruges,  at  the  Fleur-de-Ble, 
Listening  with  a  wild  dehght, 
To  the  chimes  that  through  the  night 
Rang  their  changes  from  the  belfry 
Of  that  quaint  old  Flemish  city, 

**  As  the  evening  shades  descended, 
Low  and  loud  and  sweetly  blended, 
Low  at  times  and  loud  at  times, 
And  changing  like  a  poet's  rhymes, 
Rang  the  beautiful  wild  chimes, 
From  the  belfry  in  the  market 
Of  the  ancient  town  of  Bruges." 

In  "  Nuremberg  "  he  finds  "  memoirs  of  the  middle  ages 
and  a  wondrous  world  of  art,"  but  the  lesson  he  hrings 
from  the  city  of  Dlirer  and  Hans  Sachs,  the  cobbler-bard, 
is  "the  nobility  of  labor, —  the  long  pedigree  of  toil." 
And  in  the  "  Norman  Baron,"  dying  in  his  turreted  castle, 
the  one  redeeming  feature  of  a  life  of  greed  and  wrong 
was  the  freeing  of  his  serfs. 

The  time  came  when,  with  the  rest  of  New  England 
poets,  he  raised  his  voice  against  slaveholding  in  a  country 
professing  to  be  free ;  but  the  protest  was  in  his  own 
pacific  manner  and  not  in  philippic  strain  of  Whittier  or 
the  derisive  reasoning  of  Lowell.  And  therein  he  kept  his 
own  individuality,  and  that  quality  which  made  him  the 
best  loved  of  all  our  poets.  This  may  not  be  the  highest 
ambition,  or  be  accompanied  by  the  greatest  achievement, 
but  perhaps  it  is  the  reward  which  he  himself  would  most 
earnestly  have  coveted  and  of  which  even  in  his  lifetime 
he  had  a  foretaste  in  tributes  of  affection  from  old  and 
young. 


284  American  Literature 

This  kindly  endearment  of  all  classes  in  two  countries 
the  poem  of  "  Evangeline  "  did  more  than  any  other  single 
one  to  win  and  augment.  It  mattered  not  that  poetical 
"Evange-  justice  had  to  throw  the  burden  of  reproach 
line."  upon  the  English,  where  it  did  not  belong,  as 

Parkman  has  shown  in  his  "Montcalm and  Wolfe,"  instead 
of  upon  the  priests,  who  stirred  up  the  people  to  a  con- 
tinual dispute  of  the  fortunes  of  war  and  conquest,  until 
deportation  became  a  necessity  of  good  government.  De- 
spite this  circumstance,  the  poet  turned  English  and  Amer- 
ican sympathy  to  the  French  side  by  enlisting  that  love 
which  all  the  world  has  for  a  lover,  particularly  when  it 
happens  to  be  such  a  sweet  and  saintly  maiden  as  the 
daughter  of  Benedict  Bellefontaine,  or  so  valiant  a  youth 
as  Gabriel  Lajeunesse,  the  son  of  Basil  the  blacksmith. 
From  the  start  all  human  interest  is  with  the  separated 
lovers  in  the  long  search  of  one  for  the  other  —  a  tale  of 
unrest  and  wandering,  of  hope  deferred  and  of  a  deathbed 
meeting  at  last,  aud  the  slumber  side  by  side  in  their 
nameless  graves.  It  was  the  floodtide  of  a  humanism  that 
had  been  growing  in  our  literature,  first  in  the  verse  of 
sentimental  strain  and  then  in  romantic.  But  this  was 
a  welling  up  of  genuine  sympathy  for  the  betrothed  torn 
asunder  by  the  fate  of  war ;  and  the  volume  and  extent 
of  compassionate  sorrow  was  as  the  mighty  tides  of  Fundy 
spreading  over  the  basin  of  Minas  close  by  the  acres 
of  Grand  Prd.  All  classes  of  readers  follow  the  sad  quest 
of  love,  and  become  Acadian  peasants  and  pilgrims  for 
the  time;  and  hundreds  are  every  summer  making  their 
pilgrimages  to  see  the  place  which,  it  is  said,  the  poet 
himself  had  not  seen  when  he  wrote : 


Henry  Wadsworth  Longfellow        285 

"  Still  stands  the  forest  primeval  ;  but  under    the   shade  of  its 

branches 
Dwells  another  race,  with  other  customs  and  language. 
Only  along  the  shore  of  the  mournful  and  mighty  Atlantic 
Linger  a  few  Acadian  peasants,  whose  fathers  from  exile 
Wandered  back  to  their  native  land  to  die  in  its  bosom. 
In  the  fisherman's  cot  the  wheel  and  the  loom  are  still  busy, 
Maidens  still  wear  their  Norman  caps  and  their  kirtles  of  homespun, 
And  by  the  evening  fire  repeat  Evangeline's  story, 
While  from  its  rocky  caverns  the  deep-voiced  neighboring  ocean 
Speaks,  and  in  accents  disconsolate  answers  the  wail  of  the  forest.'* 

Eeaders  also  become  humanists  with  Longfellow  and 
friends  of  the  poet  who  had  touched  fountains  where 
others  had  only  stirred  the  surface  of  the  pool.  In  Amer- 
ica and  in  England  he  became  "  the  writer  of  *  Evange- 
line'" by  distinction;  and  it  was  this  idyl  that  led 
strangers  to  find  the  same  humane  elements  in  his  minor 
productions  and  to  love  him  as  the  expositor  of  hearth 
and  home  virtues  and  affection.  It  was  an  international 
poem  in  plot  and  scene,  Homeric  in  measure  and  world- 
wide in  sympathy.  The  author  was  by  no  means  the 
maker  of  a  single  poem,  since  few  have  written  more  than 
he,  but  none  have  been  so  identified  with  their  best. 

Next  to  this  poem  "  The  Song  of  Hiawatha  "  commends 
itself  to  American  readers  as  the  most  agreeable  repro- 
duction of  the  aboriginal  sources  of  our  verse. 

"  Hiawatha." 

The  Indian  in  literature  has  generally  taken 
the  hue  of  the  writer's  imagination.  He  has  been  por- 
trayed with  inks  of  as  many  colors  as  his  own  war  paint, 
red  and  blue  and  black.  If,  however,  a  cheerful  dye  could 
be  found,  Longfellow  would  be  sure  to  dip  his  Indian  in 
it.  Accordingly  the  light  that  pervades  the  poem,  or  is 
best  recalled,  is  that  of  the  setting  sun  cast  over  a  depart- 


2  86  American  Literature 

ing  race.  Down  into  this  "  long  track  and  trail  of  splendor, 
into  the  purple  mists  of  evening,"  the  prophet  and  prince 
vanishes  at  last  amidst  the  sad  farewells  of  his  people. 
But  not  until  he  had  a  vision  of  the  nations  forgetful  of 
his  coimsels  and  warring  with  each  other,  scattered  and 
swept  westward,  like  the  withered  leaves  of  autumn. 
The  whole  poem  is  the  swan  song  of  a  vanishing  race, 
recounting  its  golden  age  of  pristine  happiness,  its  later 
decline,  and  finally  the  coming  of  an  alien  people  "  from 
the  regions  of  the  morning,"  followed  by  the  crowding 
nations  of  many  tongues.  None  better  than  our  poet  of 
all  humanity  could  have  sung  this  song  so  truly  as  to 
cherish  the  little  sentiment  that  a  conquering  race  can 
keep  for  the  conquered.  It  was  in  accord  with  his  own 
benignant  holding,  that  "  were  half  the  wealth  bestowed 
on  camps  and  courts  given  to  redeem  the  mind  from  error, 
there  were  no  need  of  forts  and  arsenals." 

The  song  of  the  invader  was  sung  in  "  The  Courtship  of 
Miles  Standish,"  which  might  have  been  entitled,  the 
loves  of  John  Alden  and  Priscilla  and  the  redoubtable 
doings  of  the  Pilgrim  Julius  Csesar  among  the  savages. 
It  was  the  epos  of  the  first  encounter,  to  be  drawn  out  into 
an  epic  of  conquest  in  verse  and  prose,  whose  last  book 
was  "  Hiawatha."  Its  scenes  are  laid  on  the  waterways 
from  the  Atlantic  to  the  last  of  the  great  lakes,  and  from 
Plymouth  to  the  Kocky  Mountains.  But  the  story  begins 
in  the  Plymouth  hamlet  from  which  the  "  Mayflower  "  sailed 
away  in  the  spring  of  1621,  and  by  the  timber  huts  and 
the  meeting-house  and  the  spinning-wheel  of  Priscilla. 
In  it  also  is  the  same  touch  of  humanity  that  makes  all 
in  love  with  lovers  once  more,  and  with  the  poet  of  whose 
kindly  heart  they  are  the  creation. 


Henry  Wadsworth  Longfellow        287 

Everywhere  genial  sunshine  illumines  his  pages,  even 
though  the  record  be  as  a  black  letter  chronicle  of  want 
and  death  in  the  Pilgrim  settlement,  or  of  exile  and  dis- 
tress, as  in  Acadia,  or  of  a  dispersed  people  in  the  far 
northwest.  And  if  this  be  true  in  the  sadder  phases  of 
life,  how  much  more  in  the  glad  experiences  which  he  has 
filled  with  light  and  joy.  For  this  reason,  whatever 
position  and  rank  as  a  bard  in  the  present  or  future  he 
may  or  may  not  hold,  he  will  always  be  the  best  beloved 
of  our  American  poets. 

His  own  words  in  the  "  Dedication  "  were  prophetic  of 
the  affection  which  still  flows  toward  him  from  all  lands : 

"As  one  who,  walking  in  the  twiHght  gloom. 
Hears  round  about  him  voices  as  it  darkens, 
And  seeing  not  the  forms  from  which  they  come, 
Pauses  from  time  to  time,  and  turns  and  harkens  ; 

"  So  walking  here  in  twilight,  0  my  friends  ! 
I  hear  your  voices  softened  by  the  distance, 
And  pause,  and  turn  to  listen,  as  each  sends 
His  words  of  friendship,  comfort,  and  assistance. 

*'  If  any  thought  of  mine,  or  sung  or  told, 
Has  ever  given  delight  or  consolation, 
Ye  have  repaid  me  back  a  thousand  fold. 
By  every  friendly  sign  and  salutation. 

"  Not  chance  of  birth  or  place  has  made  us  friends, 
Being  ofttimes  of  diflferent  tongues  and  nations. 
But  the  endeavor  for  seKsame  ends. 

With  the  same  hopes,  and  fears,  and  aspirations. 

"  Therefore  I  hope,  as  no  unwelcome  guest. 

At  your  warm  fireside,  when  the  lamps  are  lighted, 
To  have  my  place  reserved  among  the  rest. 
Nor  stand  as  one  unsought  and  uninvited  !  " 


XXV 

.  RALPH  WALDO  EMERSON 

A  LIBERAL  spirit  which  began  to  assert  itself  about  the 
middle  of  the  eighteenth  century  took  definite  form  early 
indepen-  ^  ^^®  nineteenth,  with  William  EUery  Chan- 
dency.  Tiuig  as  Its  exponeut.    Emerson  was  following 

the  latest  pattern  of  theology,  when  the  protesting  habit 
of  eight  generations  of  clerical  ancestors  drove  him  to 
break  with  all  ecclesiastical  restraint  and  direction,  and  to 
become  an  independent  such  as  had  not  been  seen  in  New 
England.  He  was  the  legitimate  product  of  two  cen- 
turies of  corporate  individualism.  The  feature  of  it  which 
shocked  people  was  that  the  individual  should  shake  him- 
self clear  of  the  corporation  and  assert  his  personal  in- 
dependence. If  he  had  carried  a  small  congregation  with 
him,  having  a  few  articles  of  agreement  and  belief  in 
common,  he  would  have  simply  been  following  numerous 
precedents.  But  he  chose  to  stand  alone  and  apart  and 
take  the  consequences.  All  this  is  interesting  here  only 
as  related  to  the  character  of  the  contributions  which  he 
made  to  Kterature.  These  were  by  no  means  few  nor 
imimportant. 

Another  factor  to  be  reckoned  with  is  the  general  fer- 
ment of  the  time  in  which  Emerson  began  his  work. 
Restlessness  *  I^eactiou  agalust  a  materialistic  view  of  life 
of  the  Time.  ,^^^  ^^^  surroundiugs  had  started  in  Germany 
and  passed  through  England  to  America.    Prophets  of 

288 


Ralph  Waldo  Emerson  289 

tlie  ideal  were  making  themselves  heard.  Coleridge  and 
Carlyle,  stirred  by  Goethe,  were  sending  forth  oracular 
sayings,  which,  if  not  always  comprehended,  set  others 
thinking.  The  call  was  for  higher  thoughts  of  man  and 
clearer  views  of  nature  and  the  intimate  relation  of  the 
one  to  the  other.  Of  this  restatement  of  an  old  doctrine 
Emerson,  in  full  sympathy  with  it,  became  the  interpreter 
and  expositor  to  his  neighbors  and  fellow  citizens  of  New 
England  and  the  country  at  large. 

He  began  upon  the  lyceum  lecture  platform  in  the  days 
when  it  was  a  sort  of  university  extension  movement  with 
the  first  minds  of  the  nation  in  its  employ.  The  Popular 
Information  was  not  of  so  much  account  as  ^*^*""- 
inspiration.  A  race  that  had  inherited  the  hearing  ear 
through  two  centuries  of  sermonizing,  and  the  imder- 
standing  mind  by  discussing  sharp  points  of  doctrine  at 
home  was  both  fed  and  entertained  by  the  half -ethical, 
half-secular  discourse  which  wa^  poured  out  every  week 
through  the  winter  in  the  cities  and  larger  towns.  The 
best  thought  of  the  time  was  furnished  at  the  lowest 
price  to  each  hearer.  Moreover,  people  could  afford  to 
listen  to  speculations  from  the  week-day  platform  which 
would  not  have  been  tolerated  in  the  Sunday  pulpit.  If 
the  speaker  were  only  attractive,  the  audience  and  the 
lecture  committee  would  take  the  risk  of  unorthodoxy  in 
religion  and  politics. 

Emerson,  as  a  pleasing  lecturer,  had  no  lack  of  oppor- 
tunities to  deliver  his  message  all  over  the  land.  It  was 
the  form  in  which  he  first  published  it,  his  books  being 
made  up  of  what  he  had  tested  by  oral  speech  to  the 
people.  He  learned  the  value  of  this  utterance  and  that 
by  the  response  it  got  from  the  assembled  intelligence 


19 


290  American  Literature 

before  him.     He  knew  what  to  keep  and  what  to  reject 
when  he  came  to  print. 

At  length  in  1836,  he  gathered  up  the  residuum  of  his 
lecture  thoughts  in  his  first  book  which  he  called  "  Nature." 
In  a  sense  it  may  be  regarded  as  the  declaration  of  his 
belief  by  a  man  who  discarded  creeds.  The  articles  of  it 
were  neither  many  nor  distinct,  but  the  statement  of  them 
was  reiterated  and  varied  and  emphasized.  It  opens  with 
depreciation  of  the  traditionary  poetry,  philosophy,  and  re- 
ligion and  an  appeal  for  insight  and  an  immediate  revela- 
tion and  "  our  own  works  and  laws  and  worship." 

"  The  universe  is  composed  of  nature  and  the  soul,  of  me  and  the 
not  me.  Through  me,  if  I  am  in  childlike  sympathy  with  nature, 
the  currents  of  universal  being  flow ;  I  am  part  or  parcel  of  God. 
I  am  not  alone  and  unacknowledged.  The  grasses  of  the  field 
nod  to  me,  the  boughs  wave  in  the  storm.  The  resulting  de- 
light proceeds  from  the  harmony  between  man  and  nature, 
which  always  wears  the  colors  of  the  spirit." 

And  again : 

"  Whoever  considers  the  final  cause  of  the  world,  will  discern 
a  multitude  of  uses  that  enter  as  parts  into  that  result.  They 
all  admit  of  being  thrown  into  one  of  the  following  classes: 
Commodity ;  Beauty ;  Language  ;  and  Discipline." 

Under  these  captions  he  expands  his  subject.  It  is  ior 
teresting  to  note  his  remarks  about  language  and  words  as 
the  symbols  of  thoughts. 

"  A  man's  power  to  connect  his  thought  with  its  proper  sym- 
bol, and  so  to  utter  it,  depends  upon  the  simplicity  of  his  charac- 
ter, that  is,  upon  his  love  of  truth,  and  his  desire  to  communicate 
it  without  loss.  The  corruption  of  man  is  followed  by  corrup- 
tion of  language.  Where  simplicity  of  character  and  the  sov- 
ereignty of  ideas  is  broken  up  by  the  prevalence  of  secondary 


Ralph  Waldo  Emerson  291 

desires  —  the  desire  of  riches,  of  pleasure,  of  power,  and  of 
praise  —  and  duplicity  and  falsehood  take  the  place  of  simplicity 
and  truth,  the  power  over  nature  as  an  interpreter  of  the  will  is 
lost ;  new  imagery  ceases  to  be  created,  and  old  words  are  per- 
verted to  stand  for  things  which  are  not ;  a  paper  currency  is 
employed,  when  there  is  no  bullion  in  the  vaults.  Hundreds  of 
writers  may  be  found  in  every  long-civilized  nation,  who  for  a 
short  time  believe,  and  make  others  believe,  that  they  see  and 
utter  truths,  who  do  not  of  themselves  clothe  one  thought  in  its 
natural  garment,  but  who  feed  unconsciously  on  the  language 
created  by  the  primary  writers  of  the  country,  those,  namely, 
who  hold  primarily  on  nature. 

"  But  wise  men  pierce  this  rotten  diction  and  fasten  words 
again  to  visible  things;  so  that  picturesque  language  is  at 
once  a  commanding  certificate  that  he  who  employs  it,  is  a  man 
in  alliance  with  truth  and  God.  .  .  . 

**  Amidst  agitation  and  terror  in  national  councils, — in  the 
hour  of  revolution,  —  these  solemn  images  shall  reappear  in 
their  morning  lustre,  as  fit  symbols  and  words  of  the  thoughts 
which  passing  events  shall  awaken.  At  the  call  of  a  noble  sen- 
timent, again  the  woods  wave,  the  pines  murmur,  the  river  rolls 
and  shines,  and  the  cattle  low  upon  the  mountains  as  he  heard 
them  in  his  infancy.  And  with  these  forms,  the  spells  of  per- 
suasion, the  keys  of  power  are  put  into  his  hands." 

The  essays  which  follow  this  first  statement  of  his 
central  proposition  are  amplifications  and  restatements  of 
it.  Of  the  beauty  of  nature  he  says :  "  Give  ^ater 
me  health  and  a  day  and  I  will  make  the  ^^**y^- 
pomp  of  emperors  ridiculous.  The  dawn  is  my  Assyria, 
the  sunset  and  moonrise  my  Paphos  and  unimaginable 
realms  of  faerie,  broad  noon  shall  be  my  England  of  the 
senses  and  the  understanding,  the  night  shall  be  my 
Gerinany  of  mystic  philosophy  and  dreams."  A  little 
later  he  comes  to  the  idealism  which  underlies  his  some- 


292  American  Literature 

what  mystical  discourse,  and  asks  "  whether  nature  out- 
wardly exists,"  or  is  the  human  mind  the  receiver  of 
certain  "  sensations  which  we  call  sun  and  moon,  man  and 
woman,  house  and  trade  ?  Be  nature  what  it  may  be,  it 
is  ideal  to  me  so  long  as  I  cannot  try  the  accuracy  of  my 
senses."  His  restatement  of  an  old  philosophic  dogma 
had  at  least  the  fascination  of  a  new  phrasing,  although 
its  practical  tests  are  apt  to  loosen  its  hold  on  common 
minds  when  they  try  to  call  fire  and  water  appearances 
instead  of  realities.  But  the  sage  has  his  word  of  protest 
against  burlesque  conclusions,  and  insists  that  the  question 
of  the  absobite  existence  of  nature  still  remains  open,  and 
if  reason  be  stimulated  to  more  earnest  vision,  the  surface 
of  things  will  become  transparent  and  their  causes  and 
spirits  be  seen  through  them.  This  dualism  of  nature  he 
then  proceeds  to  explain  and  illustrate  by  the  tendency  of 
motion,  poetry,  science,  and  religion  to  affect  our  convic- 
tions of  the  reality  of  the  external  world.  He  concludes 
by  adding  that  "  the  advantage  of  the  ideal  theory  over 
the  popular  faith  is,  that  it  presents  the  world  in  precisely 
that  view  which  is  most  desirable  to  the  mind,"  to  be 
accepted  as  it  is  found,  unquestioningly  and  as  a  part  of 
the  lesson  we  are  here  to  learn.  Supplementing  these 
phenomena  and  the  cause  and  end  of  their  existence  is 
the  all-pervading  spirit,  the  present  expositor  of  the  divine 
mind. 

These  propositions  culled  from  the  more  intelligible  of 
Emerson's  sentences,  may  not  be  so  clear  to  the  reader  as 
they  presumably  were  to  him,  but  they  may 
help  to  explain  the  writings  which  he  contrib- 
uted to  our  literature  and   the  peculiarity  of  their  con- 
struction.   Whatever  he  saw,  or  thought  he  saw,  according 


Ralph  Waldo  Emerson  293 

to  Ms  own  idealistic  theory,  was  perceived  with  an  intuition 
which  did  not  wait  for  the  slow  steps  of  logical  processes. 
He  did  not  arrive  at  conclusions  by  stages  observable  to 
ordinary  comprehension.  Where  there  is  any  connection 
between  one  station  of  his  speech  and  another  it  is  by  a 
submerged  wire.  There  is  a  flash  here,  another  yonder, 
but  the  reader  may  not  immediately  discover  the  path 
through  the  sea  or  earth  or  air  by  which  the  current  went. 
He  used  to  say  that  his  sentences  were  repellent  particles. 
A  paragraph  of  them,  like  a  handful  of  bullets,  might  be 
arranged  in  any  order,  yet  singly  or  together  they  were 
effective.  This  no  doubt  was  the  case  when  they  were 
discharged  from  the  platform.  No  time  was  given  to 
make  connections,  as  in  reading,  but  the  personality,  voice, 
and  emphasis  attending  oral  delivery  aided  the  hearers* 
apprehension.  At  any  rate,  where  he  was  heard  once  he 
was  sent  for  again  —  except  possibly  in  that  town  where 
a  minister  followed  the  lecturer  with  a  prayer  that  they 
might  be  "  delivered  from  ever  again  hearing  such  tran- 
scendental nonsense." 

Twelve  years  were  required  to  sell  five  hundred  copies 
of  "  Nature,"  but  its  readers  were  many  and  the  commotion 
it  made  corresponded  to  the  strangeness  of  its  doctrines. 
These  were  restated  in  clearer  language  before  the  scholars 
of  Harvard  in  1837  in  an  oration  on  the  "American 
Scholar,"  which  Dr.  Holmes  was  pleased  to  term  "  our 
intellectual  declaration  of  independence."  Tne  speaker 
opened  with  the  announcement  that  our  day  of  indepen- 
dence, our  long  apprenticeship  to  the  learning  of  other 
lands,  draws  to  a  close,  and  took  up  his  theme  of  "  Man 
Thinking "  as  opposed  to  the  parrot  of  other  men's 
thoughts. 


294  American  Literature 

"  Nature  is  the  first  instructor  of  this  thinking  man,  then  the 
mind  of  the  past  in  literature,  and  next  action  in  the  world  of 
affairs,  inspiring  confidence  in  himself.  Without  deference  to 
the  popular  cry,  he  is  to  bide  his  time  and  wait  for  the  recog- 
nition of  the  future.  Nobility  is  in  that  which  is  near,  and 
success  in  abiding  by  the  best  instincts  until  the  world  follows. 

"  The  first  in  time  and  the  first  in  importance  of  the  influences 
upon  the  mind  is  that  of  nature.  Every  day  the  sun ;  and  after 
sunset,  night  and  her  stars.  Ever  the  winds  blow ;  ever  the 
grass  grows.  Every  day,  men  and  women,  conversing,  behold- 
ing and  beholden.  The  scholar  is  he  of  all  men  whom  this 
spectacle  most  engages.  He  must  settle  its  value  in  his  mind. 
What  is  nature  to  him]  ...  To  the  young  mind,  everything 
is  individual,  stands  by  itself.  By  and  by  it  finds  how  to  join 
two  things,  and  see  in  them  one  nature ;  then  three,  then  three 
thousand ;  and  so  tyrannized  over  by  its  own  unifying  instinct, 
it  goes  on  tying  things  together,  diminishing  anomalies,  discover- 
ing roots  running  under  ground,  whereby  contrary  and  remote 
things  cohere,  and  flower  out  from  one  stem.  The  ambitious 
soul  sits  down  before  each  refractory  fact ;  one  after  another, 
reduces  all  strange  constitutions,  all  new  powers,  to  their  class 
and  law,  and  goes  on  forever  to  animate  the  last  fibre  of  organ- 
ization, the  outskirts  of  nature,  by  insight." 

Here  again  the  speaker's  personality  amounted  to  more 
than  subsequent  meditation  on  the  printed  report  of  what 
he  said.  Lowell  declared  that  "  it  was  an  event  without 
any  former  parallel  in  our  literary  annals  —  a  scene  to  be 
always  treasured  in  the  memory  for  picturesqueness  and 
inspiration."  A  leader  had  arisen  who  was  to  give  a  new 
direction  to  the  thoughts  of  his  comrades  and  to  stir  his 
antagonists  to  revising  their  ancient  system  of  defences. 

As  an  inspirer  and  quickener  of  thinking  minds  Emer- 
son was  a  special  providence  to  American  letters.  Some 
considered  him  as  an  inscrutable  visitation  of  Providence 


Ralph  Waldo  Emerson  295 

upon  New  England,  and  treated  him  accordingly;  but  many 
were  inclined  to  call  what  they  could  not  understand 
heresy,  and  what  they  knew  was  unorthodox 

''  A  Stimulant. 

they  labelled  transcendentalism,  and  half  hoped 
they  should  hear  more  of  him.  They  could  not  resist  the 
gracious  manner,  the  benignant  face,  the  sincerity,  the 
optimism,  the  strong  sense,  the  genial  spirit,  and  the  lofty 
intellectual  flight  of  the  greatest  thinker  of  his  time  in 
his  country.  He  appeared  as  the  importer  of  the  outer 
world's  philosophy  and  its  interpreter,  as  Longfellow  had 
introduced  the  legendary  lore  of  its  poetry.  Together  the 
two  leaders  gave  the  nation  an  impulse  in  letters  which 
radiated  in  several  directions. 

After  the  publication  of  "  Nature,"  in  1836,  he  continued 
to  assemble  the  best  of  his  lectures  in  the  form  of  essays, 
a  first  series  in  1841  and  a  second  in  1844.  p^.^^^ 
These  were  followed  at  irregular  intervals  by  '^"*"^e*- 
"  Miscellanies,"  "  Representative  Men,"  "  English  Traits," 
"  The  Conduct  of  Life,"  and  others,  down  to  the  "  Sover- 
eignty of  Ethics"  in  1878,  twenty-four  titles  in  about 
forty-five  years  of  production,  spanning  the  second  and 
third  quarters  of  the  century. 

A  sample  of  his  style  may  be  taken  at  random,  for 
there  was  no  radical  change  in  his  product  from  first 
to  last.  This  is  from  "  Prospects "  in  the  volume  of 
"  Miscellanies  " : 

"  So  shall  we  come  to  look  at  the  world  with  new  eyes.  It 
shall  answer  the  endless  inquiry  of  the  intellect  —  what  is 
truth  %  and  of  the  affections  —  what  is  good  ?  by  yielding  itself 
passive  to  the  educated  will.  There  shall  come  to  pass  what  the 
poet  said,  *  Nature  is  not  fixed,  but  fluid.'  Spirit  alters,  molds, 
makes  it.  The  immobility  or  bruteness  of  nature  is  the  absence 
of  spirit ;  to  pure  spirit  it  is  fluid,  it  is  volatile,  it  is  obedient. 


29^  American  Literature 

Every  spirit  builds  itself  a  home ;  and  beyond  its  bouse  is  its 
world,  and  beyond  its  world  a  heaven.  Know  then  that  the 
world  exists  for  you.  For  you  is  the  phenomenon  perfect. 
What  we  are,  that  only  can  we  see.  All  that  Adam  had,  all 
that  Csesar  could,  you  have  and  can  do.  Adam  called  his 
house,  heaven  and  earth ;  Csesar  called  his  house,  Rome ;  you 
perhaps  call  yours,  a  cobbler's  trade ;  a  hundred  acres  of 
ploughed  land ;  or  a  scholar's  garret.  Yet  line  for  line  and 
point  for  point,  your  dominion  is  as  great  as  theirs,  though 
without  fine  names.     Build,  therefore,  your  own  world."  .  .  . 

To  the  general  reader  it  will  be  a  waste  of  time  to 
attempt  a  paraphrase  of  such  pages  into  expanded  and 
connected  discourse.  It  would  be  next  to  impossible,  if 
the  tradition  of  Emerson's  composition  is  true  —  that  he 
selected  from  notebooks  sentences  enough  for  an  essay 
and  arranged  them  about  a  topic  as  well  as  time  would 
permit.  If  so  he  deserves  in  a  sense  the  scholastic  title 
of  the  Middle  Ages  —  Master  of  Sentences.  He  may  also 
be  called  an  artist  in  mosaic ;  but  of  continuous  and  con- 
nected discourse  he  would  never  have  called  himself  a 
master,  nor  would  any  one  else,  imless  endowed  with 
seven-league  boots  to  keep  step  with  this  giant  as  he 
strode  from  point  to  point  in  his  intuitional  processes. 

Among  the  volumes  of  prose  which  frequently  ap- 
peared, books  of  "  Poems  "  were  issued  in  1847  and  1865, 
with  single  poems  and  revisions  at  other  times. 
They  cannot  be  overlooked  in  any  account  of 
Emerson's  literary  work,  since  he  has  been  regarded  by 
some  as  a  greater  poet  than  prose  writer.  Moreover,  if  he 
had  any  higher  or  choicer  thought  than  common  he  pre- 
ferred to  put  it  in  verse.  And  to  the  ordinary  reader  it 
will  seem  that  if  he  had  any  more  abstruse  and  mystical 
thought  than  usual,  he  enclosed  it  in  measures  and  lines 


Ralph  Waldo  Emerson  297 

equally  difficult  to  comprehend  on  customary  theories  of 
poetic  composition.  The  thought  is  undoubtedly  exalted, 
possibly  too  sublime  for  ordinary  apprehension,  but  even 
a  great  poet  is  limited  by  the  laws  of  prosody,  if  he  aims 
to  please  the  ear  of  his  readers.  He  may  say  that  thought 
is  of  more  consequence  than  expression,  but  not  if  it  is  to 
be  understood,  or  if  metre  and  rhyme  are  of  value  in 
poetry.  But  this  independent  singer  declared  his  position 
in  this  respect,  and  illustrated  it  at  the  same  time  when 
he  wrote  of  the  poet : 

"  He  shall  not  his  brain  encumber 
With  coil  of  rhythm  and  number; 
But  leaving  rule  and  pale  forethought. 
He  aye  shall  climb 
For  his  rhyme." 

But  the  climbing  for  the  measure  here  suggests  the  anti- 
climax of  an  inverted  ladder.  So,  too,  the  terseness  of  the 
following  does  not  add  to  its  perspicuity : 

**  Mine  and  yours;  mine  not  yours, 
Earth  endures ;  stars  abide  — 
Shine  in  the  old  sea; 

Old  as  the  shores,  but  where  are  old  men  P 
I  who  have  seen  much 
Such  have  I  never  seen." 

''  Of  Owning  Land  "  is  clear,  though  half  prose : 

**  They  called  me  theirs, 
Who  so  controlled  me; 
Yet  every  one 
Wished  to  stay  and  is  gone. 
How  am  I  theirs 
If  they  cannot  hold  me, 
But  I  hold  them." 


298  American  Literature 

His  answer  to  his  own  question "  Where  are  old  men? '* 
is  found  in  "  The  World  Love  "  in  good  verse  : 

*'  Spring  still  makes  spring  in  the  mind 

When  sixty  years  are  told ; 
Love  makes  anew  this  throbbing  heart,  , 

And  we  are  never  old. 
Over  the  winter  glaciers 

I  see  the  summer  glow, 
And  through  the  wild-piled  snowdrift 

The  warm  rosebuds  glow." 

After  these  qualifications  it  may  be  asked  wherein  does 
the  value  and  popularity  of  Emerson's  poetry  consist,  so 
far  as  it  is  popular?  Undoubtedly  in  its  cheerfulness 
first  of  alL  There  are  beautiful  poems  which  can  be  well 
enough  understood  by  any  reader  to  make  him  feel  that 
both  sides  of  everything  were  bright  to  the  poet.  If  dark 
to-day  it  will  be  sunny  to-morrow.  Midnight  will  be  noon 
in  twelve  hours.  He  believed  in  the  evolution  of  every- 
thing toward  a  better  state.    Meantime  be  patient : 

"  I  will  wait  heaven's  perfect  hour 
Through  the  innumerable  years." 

Be  laborious  also : 

"  On  bravely  through  the  sunshine  and  the  showers  1 
Time  hath  his  work  to  do  —  and  we  have  ours." 

A  people  given  to  sombre  views  of  life  relish  the  opti- 
mistic views  of  a  strong  thinker  who  helps  them  hold  up 
their  heads  and  keep  a  good  heart  amidst  real  or  fancied 
ills.  They  can  forego  the  fine  art  of  Poe's  twilight  and 
spectral  verse  if  they  can  find  optimism  in  lines  which  are 
not  always  regular  or  quite  as  intelligible  as  these : 


Ralph  Waldo  Emerson  299 

**  Yet  spake  yon  purple  mountain. 
Yet  said  yon  ancient  wood, 
That  night  or  day,  that  love  or  crime 
Leads  all  souls  to  the  good." 

So  his  sturdy  and  wholesome  love  of  nature  commends 
his  verse  to  those  who  are  in  sympathy  with  its  rugged 
aspects.  His  "  Snow  Storm  "  is  next  to  Whittier's  as  far 
as  it  goes ;  the  "  Ehodora  "  an  exquisite  flower  piece,  and 
the  "  Humble  Bee  "  an  "  animated  torrid  zone  "  of  verse, 
as  the  bee  itself  was  of  insect  life.  Nothing  in  the  ma- 
terial universe  was  beyond  his  interest;  but  he  looked 
upon  nothing  long,  whether  flower  of  the  field  or  star  of 
heaven,  without  a  vision  of  the  spiritual  truth  it  sym- 
bolized. Of  this  he  was  the  clear-eyed  seer  and  a  pro- 
claimer  to  his  generation  of  what  he  saw.  If  men  accepted 
his  interpretation  it  was  well.  If  not,  he  had  no  word  of 
impatient  censure,  saying  only : 

"  Life  is  too  short  to  waste 

In  critic  peep  or  cynic  bark, 
Quarrel  or  reprimand, 
'T  will  soon  be  dark." 


XXVI 

NATHANIEL  HAWTHORNE 

Many  of  the  makers  of  literature  in  the  first  half  of 
the  niaeteenth  century  had  searched  diligently  for  fresh 
material  in  the  new  country.  Some  had  found  it  in  the 
Indian,  and  others  in  the  war  for  independence,  or  in  life 
and  adventures  on  the  frontier.  At  last  a  New  Englander 
appeared  who  found  in  the  bleak  and  dreary  existence  of 
the  first  settlers  the  germ  of  the  greatest  romances  that 
have  been  written  on  American  soil. 

It  was  fit  that  he  should  be  born  in  Salem,  the  next 
town  to  be  settled  after  Plymouth.  Believers  in  heredity 
will  think  that  one  in  whose  veins  the  bluest  blood  of  the 
Puritans  ran  was  best  able  to  understand  their  bigoted 
righteousness  on  the  one  hand  and  on  the  other  their 
strict  conscientiousness. 

Nathaniel  Hawthorne,  born  in  1804,  a  year  later  than 
Emerson,  was  the  descendant  of  six  generations  of  seafaring 

Early  Years       ™®^»  ^^^  ^^^  ^^^^^  homCS  in  the  old  tOWU.     A 

andwritings.  p^j^Q^g  auccstor  had  been  a  judge  who  had  sen- 
tenced unhappy  victims  of  the  witchcraft  delusion  to  be 
hanged.  A  gloom  as  of  remorse  seems  to  have  descended 
with  the  race.  It  was  not  dissipated  by  the  seclusion  in 
which  the  mother  of  Hawthorne  kept  herself  after  his 
father's  death  on  a  South  American  voyage.  The  boy's 
free  life  for  a  few  years  in  the  Maine  lake  and  woods 
country,  where  the  family  had  an  estate,  was  good  for  his 

300 


Nathaniel  Hawthorne  301 

physique  and  his  reflective  faculties,  but  not  for  com- 
panionable qualities.  If  these  were  developed  by  four 
years  at  Bowdoin  College,  they  certainly  were  not  by  ten 
subsequent  years  of  seclusion  in  the  Salem  home.  But 
the  three  periods  together  prepared  him  for  the  highest 
achievement  in  the  single  direction  in  which  he  chose  to 
work  for  over  thirty  years. 

He  began  writing  in  the  retirement  of  the  Salem  house 
after  his  graduation.  For  ten  years  in  the  privacy  of  his 
room  he  wrote  stories  and  burned  most  of  them.  Occasion- 
ally one  would  get  into  the  "  Salem  Gazette,"  the  "  Knicker- 
bocker Magazine,"  the  "Token,"  or  the  "Era"  over  an 
anonymous  signature,  but  more  of  them  went  up  the 
chimney,  leaving  behind,  however,  the  strength  which 
practice  gives.  After  three  years  of  working  and  waiting 
the  youthful  author  tested  his  accumulations  of  power 
by  publishing  "  Fanshawe,"  a  story  of  college  days.  The 
limited  demand  for  it  showed  him  that  his  time  for  rec- 
ognition had  not  yet  come.  So  he  continued  to  labor 
for  nine  more  years  of  apprenticeship  to  his  profession  — 
at  that  time  an  unpromising  one.  At  the  end  of  this 
period,  in  1837,  the  first  volume  of  "  Twice-Told  Tales " 
appeared,  and  the  world  knew,  if  Hawthorne  did  not, 
that  patience  had  done  its  perfect  work.  Not  that  he  had 
attained  the  preeminence  of  a  later  achievement,  but  that 
in  the  domain  of  the  sketch  he  had  surpassed  the  efforts 
of  his  predecessor,  Irving.  Many  of  these  short  stories 
had  been  printed  in  various  publications  without  attracting 
attention,  but  when  gathered  in  a  volume  they  seemed 
suddenly  to  acquire  an  importance  previously  undiscovered. 
No  one  can  say  how  long  the  author  would  have  had  to 
wait  for  recognition  had  not  his  friend  Bridge  confidentially 


\^ 


302  American  Literature 

assured  a  hesitating  publisher  that  he  would  assume  the 
risk  of  a  first  edition.  It  was  he  who,  as  a  classmate 
Delay  of  ^  coUege,  had  constantly  insisted  that  Haw- 
ecognition.  ^j^Qj^g  should  be  a  writer  of  romance,  and  upon 
him  Hawthorne  playfully  charges  the  responsibility  of  his 
choice  of  literature  as  a  vocation.  But  his  immediate 
success  was  doubtful  to  the  author  himself.  In  the  preface 
to  a  later  edition  of  his  first  book  he  wrote :  "  The  author 
has  a  claim  to  one  distinction  which  none  of  his  literary 
brethren  will  care  about  disputing  with  him.  He  was  for 
a  good  many  years  the  obscurest  man  of  letters  in  America. 
Throughout  the  time  above  specified  he  had  no  incitement 
to  literary  effort  in  a  reasonable  prospect  of  reputation  or 
profit,  nothing  but  the  pleasure  itself  of  composition,  which 
in  the  long  run  will  hardly  keep  the  chill  out  of  a  writer's 
heart  or  the  numbness  out  of  his  fingers.  To  this  total  lack 
of  sympathy  the  public  owe  it  that  the  author  can  show 
nothing  for  the  thought  and  industry  of  that  portion  of  his 
life  save  the  forty  sketches  included  in  these  volumes." 

There  have  been  many  young  writers  since  his  day  who 
would  have  been  repaid  for  a  dozen  years  of  labor  by  such 
a  product,  but  there  are  few  who  would  have  persevered 
under  the  same  depressing  conditions.  Despite  his  genu- 
ine modesty  he  had  an  assuring  confidence  in  his  own 
gifts  which  carried  him  on  through  the  laborious  years 
until  recognition  came.  He  could  say  of  them  long  after 
in  a  letter  dedicatory  to  his  friend  Bridge : 

"  But  was  there  ever  such  a  weary  delay  in  obtaining 
the  slightest  recognition  from  the  public  as  in  my  case  ? 
I  sat  down  by  the  wayside  of  life  like  a  man  under 
enchantment.  .  .  .  And  there,  perhaps,  I  should  be  sit- 
ting at  this  moment  if  it  had  not  been  for  you."    This 


Nathaniel  Hawthorne  303 

was  written  fourteen  years  after  the  first  volume  of  the 
"Tales"  was  published,  when  others  were  added  under 
the  title  of  the  "  Snow  Image."  Some  of  them  were 
among  the  earliest  that  he  wrote  and  some  of  later  com- 
position. With  some  he  is  disposed  to  quarrel  because 
of  their  early  faults  and  with  others  because  they 
approach  so  nearly  to  the  best  he  can  now  achieve.  To 
many  writers  it  is  gratifying  that  such  an  artist  as  Haw- 
thorne could  say  :  "  The  ripened  autumnal  fruit  tastes  but 
little  better  than  the  early  windfalls."  Those  who  in 
1837  read  the  first  collection  of  the  stories  might  have 
predicted  what  would  be  the  output  of  a  writer  who  must 
have  seemed  to  appear  suddenly  and  full-fledged  among 
them.  Old  New  England  is  portrayed  in  the  first  sketch 
and  introduced  in  its  first  sentence.  "  The  G-ray  Cham- 
pion "  links  the  province  with  the  mother  country,  and  the 
administration  of  Sir  Edmund  Andros  with  the  spirit  of 
resistance  to  tyranny  which  resulted  in  eventual  inde- 
pendence. It  was  the  commonwealth  against  the  Stuarts 
on  American  territory,  with  an  Ironside  patriarch,  or  the 
ghost  of  him,  as  leader  of  the  independents. 

"  '  Stand  ! '  cried  he. 

"  At  the  old  man's  word  and  outstretched  arm,  the  roll  of  the 
drum  was  hushed  at  once,  and  the  advancing  line  stood  still. 
That  stately  form  combining  the  leader  and  the  saint,  so  gray, 
so  dimly  seen,  in  such  an  ancient  garb,  could  only  belong  to 
some  old  champion  of  the  righteous  cause,  whom  the  oppres- 
sor's drum  had  summoned  from  his  grave.  They  raised  a  shout 
of  awe  and  exultation,  and  looked  for  the  deliverance  of  New 
England.  .  .  .One  would  have  thought  that  the  dark  old  man 
was  chief  ruler  there,  and  that  the  Governor  and  Council,  with 
soldiers  at  their  back,  representing  the  whole  power  and  author- 
ity of  the  Crown  had  no  alternative  but  obedience. 


304  American  Literature 

"*What  does  this  old  fellow  here]*  cried  Edward  Randolph, 
fiercely.  *  On,  Sir  Edmund !  Bid  the  soldiers  forward,  and 
give  the  dotard  the  same  choice  that  you  gave  all  his  country- 
men —  to  stand  aside  or  he  trampled  on ! ' 

"  *  Nay,  nay,  let  us  show  respect  to  the  good  grandsire,*  said 
BuUivant,  laughing.  *  See  you  not,  he  is  some  old  round- 
head dignitary  who  hath  lain  asleep  these  thirty  years,  and 
knows  nothing  of  the  change  of  times  1  Doubtless,  he  thinks 
to  put  us  down  with  a  proclamation  in  old  Noll's  name.' 

"*Are  you  mad,  old  mani'  demanded  Sir  Edmund  Andros. 
*How  dare  you  stay  the  march  of  King  James's   Governor?' 

"  *  I  have  stayed  the  march  of  a  King  himself,  ere  now,'  replied 
the  gray  figure,  with  stern  composure.  *I  am  here,  Sir  Governor, 
because  the  cry  of  an  oppressed  people  hath  disturbed  me  in  my 
secret  place ;  and,  beseeching  this  favor  earnestly  of  the  Lord^ 
it  was  vouchsafed  me  to  appear  once  again  on  earth,  in  the  good 
old  cause  of  his  saints.  .  .  .  Back,  thou  that  wast  a  Governor, 
back !  With  this  night  thy  power  is  ended  —  to-morrow,  the 
prison  !  —  back,  lest  I  foretell  the  scaffold ! ' 

^'  The  people  had  been  drawing  nearer  and  nearer.  They  con* 
fronted  the  soldiers,  not  wholly  without  arms,  and  ready  to  con« 
vert  the  very  stones  of  the  street  into  deadly  weapons.  Sir 
Edmund  Andros  looked  at  the  old  man  ;  then  he  cast  his  hard 
and  cruel  eye  over  the  multitude,  and  beheld  them  burning  with 
that  lurid  wrath,  so  difficult  to  kindle  or  to  quench;  but 
whether  the  oppressor  were  overawed  by  the  Gray  Champion's 
look,  or  perceived  his  peril  in  the  threatening  attitude  of  the 
people,  it  is  certain  that  he  gave  back,  and  ordered  his  soldiers 
to  commence  a  slow  and  guarded  retreat.  Before  another  sunset, 
the  Governor,  and  all  that  rode  so  proudly  with  him,  were 
prisoners,  and  long  ere  it  was  known  that  James  had  abdicated, 
King  William  was  proclaimed  throughout  New  England.*' 

But  political  features  of  colonial  life  do  not  so  much 
concern  its  romancer  as  the  social,  religious,  and  mental 
states  and  conditions  which  prevailed  in  the  early  period. 


Nathaniel  Hawthorne  305 

Of  course  a  minister  must  appear  among  the  first  portraits 
of  the  time  in  all  the  reverend  consequence  which  he 
shared  with  the  magistrate.  The  one  who  p^^^^^ 
wore  the  black  veil  introduced  the  element  of  Traditions, 
mystery  half  accounted  for,  which  henceforth  is  to  con- 
stitute a  subtle  fascination  in  this  magician's  performances. 
The  secret  will  die  with  the  priest,  and  the  multitude  will 
be  left  to  its  own  conjectures  with  little  help  from  two 
or  three  plausible  suggestions  from  the  author  toward 
a  solution  of  the  mystery.  Neither  will  there  always 
be  an  obtrusion  of  the  moral.  Sometimes  as  if  in  fear 
that  the  mystery  had  clouded  the  meaning  of  the  story, 
as  in  "The  Maypole,"  "Wakefield,"  and  "Prophetic 
Pictures,"  the  author  makes  clear  his  purpose,  but  oftener 
the  high  art  of  the  narrative  conveys  it  as  surely  and 
insensibly  as  the  breeze  carries  health  or  infection. 

In  the  years  of  his  preparation  for  larger  works  he  did 
the  best  that  he  could  have  done  for  himself  and  for  pos- 
terity in  rewriting  scraps  of  history,  biography,  and 
mythology  for  children.  His  keen  sense  of  the  suscepti- 
bility of  childhood  to  that  which  is  best  in  life  and  litera- 
ture made  him  regard  as  conscientious  endeavor  the  books 
bearing  the  attractive  titles  of  "The  Whole  History  of 
Grandfather's  Chair,"  "  A  Wonder  Book  for  Girls  and 
Boys,"  "  True  Stories  from  History  and  Biography,"  and 
"  Tanglewood  Tales."  There  is  true  wisdom  in  his  re- 
mark, that  "if  a  writer  succeeds  in  pleasing  his  little 
readers  he  may  hope  to  be  remembered  by  them  till  their 
own  old  age — a  far  longer  period  of  literary  existence 
than  is  generally  attained  by  those  who  seek  immortality 
from  the  judgments  of  full-grown  men."  In  particular  his 
sketches  of  New  England    history  prepare    the  young 

20 


3o6  American  Literature 

reader  for  the  author's  treatment  of  its  inner  spirit  in  the 
romances  which  were  to  follow  these  studies  in  local 
color. 

In  1839  Hawthorne  left  his  Salem  home  for  a  position 
in  the  Boston  custom-house,  and  in  1841  was  drawn  into 
the  transient  side-show  of  the  trans cendentalists  —  the 
Brook  Farm  Community.  He  stayed  long  enough  to  learn 
that  an  ideal  life  does  not  consist  in  violating  the  maxim 
of  "  every  man  to  his  trade/'  and  that  as  a  rule  novelists 
do  not  succeed  as  field  hands,  however  diligently  they 
may  perform  their  tasks.  The  next  year  he  married  and 
went  to  live  in  the  old  parsonage  at  Concord  that  had 
been  built  for  Emerson's  grandfather,  and  from  which  he 
had  witnessed  the  first  battle  of  the  Eevolution.  There 
also  Emerson  had  written  "  Nature,"  his  first  work.  In 
the  three  years'  stay  Hawthorne  wrote  more  stories  and 
sketches,  now  known  as  "  Mosses  from  an  Old  Manse." 
Then  came  three  years  of  drudgery  in  the  Salem  custom- 
house, affording  a  better  living,  but  little  opportunity  for 
literary  work.  But  the  spoils  system  could  not  turn  aside 
for  the  benefit  of  genius,  which  accordingly  had  to  make 
room  for  a  Whig  in  1849.  "  Now  you  can  write  your 
book,"  was  the  exclamation  of  the  wife  when  she  was  told 
of  the  place  lost,  and  she  showed  the  money  she  had  been 
saving  week  by  week  against  an  evil  day.  The  next  year, 
1850,  "The  Scarlet  Letter"  appeared  —  the  masterpiece 
of  New  England  fiction  in  the  century. 

Hitherto  Hawthorne  had  been  a  writer  of  stories,  a 
commendable  occupation  in  spite  of  the  excla- 

«'  The  Scarlet  ^  ^ 

Letter  "and    matiou  which  hc  put  into  a  Puritan  ancestor's 

other  ■•• 

Romances.      jjjouth,  "  Why  the  f cllow  had  better  have  been 
a  fiddler."    But  he  got  even  with  him  and  all  his  austere 


Nathaniel  Hawthorne  307 

forbears  in  this  romance  of  the  dark  ages  in  the  Bay 
Province.  It  is  a  vision  of  sin  through  its  consequences. 
It  is  also  and  more  a  tragedy  of  hypocrisy,  in  the  strain  of 
seeming  rather  than  being,  and  unwearied  revenge  casts 
its  shadow  over  all.  The  author  took  no  risks  of  his 
purpose  being  misunderstood  when  he  wrote  at  the 
end:  "Be  true  I  Be  true!  Show  freely  to  the  world  if 
not  your  worst,  yet  some  trait  whereby  the  worst  may 
be  inferred." 

The  twenty-five  years  of  waiting  for  recognition  were 
over  and  the  supremacy  of  the  author  of  "  The  Scarlet 
Letter "  was  established  by  the  sale  of  the  entire  first 
edition  in  ten  days.  After  this  success,  phenomenal  for 
the  times,  "  The  Snow  Image  "  and  "  The  House  of  Seven 
Gables  "  follow  during  his  residence  of  a  year  and  a  half 
at  Lenox.  In  the  winter  of  1851-52  at  West  Newton  he 
finished  "  The  Blithedale  Komance,"  based  on  his  memories 
of  Brook  Farm.  In  "The  House  of  Seven  Gables"  he 
prolongs  the  shadows  of  early  Puritan  days  in  a  dark 
story  of  retribution  —  the  sin  of  the  fathers  following  the 
children  to  the  third  and  fourth  generation. 

The  patronage  which  royalty  sometimes  pays  to  men 
of  letters  had  in  this  republic  and  in  Hawthorne's  instance 
been  limited  to  custom-house  salaries.  But  when  Frank- 
lin Pierce,  his  college  mate  and  lifelong  friend,  came  into 
the  presidential  chair  he  appointed  our  foremost  novelist 
to  the  remunerative  consulship  at  Liverpool.  At  last 
official  prerogative  was  well  employed.  And  when  his 
term  of  service  had  expired  the  man  whose  observation 
had  been  restricted  to  Massachusetts  first,  and  next  to  so 
much  of  England  as  he  could  visit  from  his  consular  office, 
was  now  permitted  to  pass  some  years   in   continental 


3o8  American  Literature 

residence  and  travel.  Out  of  this  came  in  1860  "  The 
Marble  Faun,"  a  romance  in  which  the  shadows  of  ancient 
Eome  fall  upon  modern  life.  Still  it  is  the  same  human 
heart  upon  which  he  is  brooding  in  Italy  as  in  New  Eng- 
land, with  the  same  subtle  analysis,  suggestion,  and  partial 
explanation  in  Miriam  and  Donatello  as  in  Zenobia,  Judge 
Pyncheon,  and  Arthur  Dimmesdale.  Everywhere  the 
demonstrator  of  psychological  anatomy  is  apparent  and 
preeminent.  He  finds  with  unerring  certainty  the  motors 
which  do  the  deed,  and  back  of  them  he  more  than  hints 
at  impelling  causes  and  soul  forces  viewless  as  the  winds. 
With  consummate  art  he  stops  at  the  line,  not  always 
discerned,  between  suggestion  and  bald  statement,  leaving 
to  the  intelligent  reader  the  privilege  of  discovering,  or 
thinking  that  he  has  discovered,  something  by  himself. 
Besides  there  is  the  strange  attraction  which  belongs  to 
the  unearthly,  the  fantastic,  and  the  ghostly,  beginning 
with  the  love  of  creepy  horrors  in  childhood  and  continuing 
into  later  years. 

Eecall  the  portrait  he  drew  of  Judge  Pyncheon : 

"  The  judge  has  not  shifted  his  position  for  a  long  while  now. 
He  holds  his  watch  in  his  left  hand,  but  clutched  in  such  a 
manner  that  you  cannot  see  the  dial-plate.  How  profound  a 
fit  of  meditation !  You  hear  the  ticking  of  his  watch ;  his 
breath  you  do  not  hear.  A  most  refreshing  slumber,  doubtless ! 
And  yet,  the  judge  cannot  be  asleep.  His  eyes  are  open !  No, 
no !  Judge  Pyncheon  cannot  be  asleep. 

"  This  was  to  have  been  such  a  busy  day  !  He  was  to  meet  a 
State-street  broker,  who  has  undertaken  to  procure  a  heavy 
percentage,  and  the  best  of  paper,  for  a  few  loose  thousands 
which  the  judge  happens  to  have  by  him,  uninvested.  Half  an 
hour  later  there  was  to  be  an  auction  of  real  estate,  including  a 
portion  of  the  old  Pyncheon  property,  originally  belonging  to 


Nathaniel  Hawthorne  309 

Maule's  garden-ground.  The  judge  had  kept  it  in  his  eye,  and 
had  set  his  heart  on  reannexing  it  to  the  small  demesne  still  left 
around  the  seven  gables;  —  and  now  during  this  odd  fit  of 
oblivion,  the  fatal  hammer  must  have  fallen,  and  transferred  our 
ancient  patrimony  to  some  alien  possessor ! '' 

And  then,  after  sundry  other  matters  of  business,  —  the 
purchase  of  a  horse,  the  renewal  of  Mrs.  Pyncheon's 
tombstone,  a  conference  with  political  friends  about  the 
November  election,  and  a  case  for  charity,  he  must  consult 
his  physician : 

"  About  what,  for  Heaven's  sake  1  Why,  it  is  rather  difficult 
to  describe  the  symptoms.  A  mere  dimness  of  sight  and  dizzi- 
ness of  brain,  was  it  1  No  matter  what  it  was.  But  a  fig  for 
medical  advice  !     The  judge  will  never  need  it. 

"Up,  therefore.  Judge  Pyncheon,  up!  You  have  lost  a 
day.  But  to-morrow  will  be  here  anon.  Will  you  rise,  be- 
times, and  make  the  most  of  iti  To-morrow!  To-morrow! 
To-morrow  !  We,  that  are  alive,  may  rise  betimes  to-morrow. 
As  for  him  that  has  died  to-day,  his  morrow  will  be  the 
resurrection  morn. 

"Rise  up,  thou  subtile,  worldly,  selfish,  iron-hearted  hypo- 
crite, and  make  thy  choice  whether  still  to  be  subtile,  worldly, 
selfish,  iron-hearted,  and  hypocritical,  or  to  tear  these  sins  out  of 
thy  nature,  though  they  bring  the  life-blood  with  them !  The 
Avenger  is  upon  thee  !     Rise  up  before  it  be  too  late  ! 

"  Art  thou  too  weak,  that  wast  so  powerful  1  Nay,  then,  we 
give  thee  up  !  " 

The  outlines  of  this  portraiture  given  here  cannot  con- 
vey the  masterly  detail  of  suggestion  and  description 
occupying  an  entire  chapter.  With  the  light  raillery  of  a 
friendly  neighbor  he  addresses  the  important  magistrate 
of  the  town  as  he  seems  to  his  townsmen,  but  beneath  the 
fair  panoply  of  words  is  the  keen  perception  of  guile  and 


3IO  American  Literature 

hypocrisy,  of  greed  and  injustice  and  of  ill-deserving 
amidst  apparent  prosperity  and  honor.  It  is  here  as  in 
the  other  volumes :  for  some  readers  there  is  the  masterly 
construction  of  singular  characters  around  some  over- 
powering trait  to  which  all  others  conform  in  fateful  and 
obedient  consistency,  or  against  which  they  contend  with 
unavailing  struggles.  Others  will  take  delight  in  a  style 
in  which  the  law  of  adaptation  is  never  transgressed :  the 
one  word  best  revealing  the  present  shade  of  thought 
being  used  and  rightly  placed,  while  the  prevailing  tone  is 
everywhere  that  of  the  scene  presented.  More  than  other 
qualities,  yet  supplemented  by  them,  is  the  high  moral 
purpose  pervading  all  of  Hawthorne's  writings.  If  at 
times  they  are  shadowed  with  the  forms  of  evil,  it  is 
because  they  are  never  absent  from  human  life.  He  does 
not,  however,  dwell  upon  their  disgusting  features,  but 
rather  upon  the  consequences  of  harboring  them.  And 
this  in  contrast  to  the  better  way,  the  nobler  life,  the  final 
triumph  of  what  is  right  and  just  and  true.  He  does  not 
preach,  but  there  are  few  sermons  which  so  effectively 
convey  their  message  as  the  sketches  and  romances  of 
this  instructor  in  ethics. 

His  place  in  literature  is  not  a  doubtful  one.  It  is  now 
a  third  of  a  century  since  the  last  of  his  four  great 
romances  was  written,  to  be  followed  by  "  Our  Old  Home  " 
as  the  impressions  of  England  were  called,  and  this  by 
"  American  and  Foreign  Note  Books,"  an  unfinished  work 
published  after  his  death.  But  meantime  no  writer  has 
caught  his  art,  or  clothed  himself  with  the  genius  which 
comes  not  by  labor.  Hawthorne  discovered  his  field  and 
so  harvested  it  that  later  explorers  have  been  but  gleaners. 
Critics  can  point  out  the  minor  defects  which  prove  him 


Nathaniel  Hawthorne  311 

to  have  written  with  the  pen  of  a  mortal  and  not  of  a 
recording  angel,  but  all  the  greater  is  the  testimony  of 
what  criticism  has  left  untouched  —  the  larger  part  —  to 
the  genius  of  the  greatest  romancer  of  the  nineteenth 
century  in  America. 


XXVII 

JAMES  RUSSELL  LOWELL 

The  antecedents  and  surroundings  of  authors  are  always 
an  interesting  element  in  any  account  of  what  they  pro- 
duced. In  some  degree  they  give  tone  and  color  to  the 
product.  A  second  thought,  however,  must  sometimes  be 
taken  to  adjust  their  themes  and  methods  of  treatment  to 
their  manner  of  life.  And  often  a  further  inquiry  into 
characteristic  traits  must  be  made  in  order  to  understand 
why  they  wrote  as  they  did. 

Of  none  is  this  truer  than  of  Lowell,  a  boy  with  the 
inheritance  of  good  birth  and  breeding  and  literary  attain- 
Diaiect  ment,  who  grew  up  in  a  library,  went  through 

^*"*'  Harvard,  reading  out-of-the-way  authors,  ab- 

sorbing the  flavor  of  remote  literatures,  and  then  turning 
out  —  as  the  work  by  which  he  was  first  recognized  — 
"  The  Biglow  Papers,"  a  political  satire  in  Yankee  dialect 
on  the  Mexican  War.  The  form  of  it  might  have  been 
attributed  to  a  down-east  schoolmaster,  except  that  he 
would  not  have  dared  to  shock  over-nice  proprieties  by 
lines  like  these: 

"  Thrash  away,  you  '11  hev  to  rattle 
On  them  kittle-drums  o*  youm— 
'T  ain't  a  knowin'  kind  o'  cattle 

Thet  is  ketched  with  mouldy  com ; 
Put  in  stiff,  you  fifer  feller, 

Let  folks  see  how  spry  you  be  — 
Guess  you  '11  toot  till  you  are  yeller 
»Fore  you  git  a-hold  o'  me  I " 
312 


James  Russell  Lowell  313 

No,  a  priggish  versifier  would  not  have  risked  his 
reputation  on  such  naturalism,  but  just  as  the  well-bred 
man  will  in  sport  violate  the  conventionalities  of  behavior 
with  a  freedom  from  which  another  shrinks  for  fear  that  he 
may  be  charged  with  ignorance  of  good  usage,  so  Lowell 
dared  to  sport  in  rhymes  from  which  a  less  assured  poet 
would  have  recoiled.  Besides,  there  was  another  reason. 
The  burning  question  of  extension  of  territory  in  the  in- 
terest of  slavery  was  coming  to  the  front.  A  few  orators 
and  editors  were  laboring  in  vain  with  an  obsequious  North. 
Pulpits  were  watching  the  wind  and  counselling  peace 
and  compromise.  This  poet,  who  had  the  soul  of  a  cru- 
sader, recently  stirred  to  see  the  real  drift  of  a  humane 
issue,  as  by  intuition  hit  upon  a  method  of  persuasion 
more  effective  than  all  the  serious  talk  of  premature 
reformers.  The  homely  sense  of  the  provincial  Yankee 
needed  to  be  addressed  in  its  own  vernacular  and  with  its 
own  wit.  The  New  Englander  may  or  may  not  see  the  se- 
rious side  of  affairs,  but  he  cannot  resist  the  ridiculous  phase 
clothed  in  his  own  lingo.  Garrison  might  print  his  appeals 
of  iron  logic  and  be  mobbed.  Whittier  might  write  his 
"  Lament  of  a  Slave  Mother  "  to  have  it  called  sentimen- 
talism  run  wild,  but  the  coast  trader  who  had  grown  rich 
in  Boston  could  not  be  impervious  to  this : 

"  Them  thet  rule  us,  them  slave-traders, 

Hain't  they  cut  a  thunderin'  swath 
(Helped  by  Yankee  renegaders) 

Thru  the  vartu  of  the  North  1 
We  begin  to  think  it  *s  nater 

To  take  sarse  and  not  be  riled ; 
Who  'd  expect  to  see  a  tater 

All  on  eend  at  bein'  biled  ? " 


3*4  American  Literature 

On  the  general  wrong  and  the  particular  misery  of  war 
"  Hosee  "  is  equally  emphatic  and  pertinent.  He  did  not 
stop  the  war,  but  the  men  who  enlisted  after  his  vivid  let- 
ters from  camp  had  their  eyes  open  to  what  awaited  them. 
Meantime  the  country  at  large  read  a  statement  of  the 
real  issue  at  stake  in  the  Mexican  War  such  as  could  not 
be  found  in  the  newspapers  and  presidential  messages. 
They  became  familiar  with  the  grounds  of  a  controversy 
which  was  coming  nearer  home  twenty  years  later.  Then 
another  series  of  Biglow  papers  would  do  the  same  ser- 
vice to  the  same  cause  in  the  straits  of  a  civil  war.  Both 
together,  in  verse  or  prose,  will  remain  as  evidence  of  the 
aid  which  an  accomplished  man  of  letters  could  give  in  a 
great  crisis  by  knowing  how  and  by  daring  to  be  efficient 
at  the  risk  of  criticism. 

If  it  be  said  that  he  had  Bums'  dialect  verse  as  a  prece- 
dent, it  will  be  remembered  that  the  Ayrshire  ploughman 
could  write  nothing  else  so  well,  which  is  not  true  of 
Lowell,  as  both  his  earlier  and  later  poems  show.  Some 
notice  of  these  should  be  taken  before  recalling  his  prose 
writings. 

Of  his  earlier  poems  he  said  he  would  gladly  suppress 
many  if  he  could,  but  the  iujustice  of  the  copyright  law 
placed  them  beyond  his  control  It  is  the  penalty  of 
success  that  poor  work  as  well  as  good  must  go  to  swell 
"  the  only  complete  edition "  of  this  and  that  publisher. 
Still  if  a  dozen  compilers  of  Lowell's  best  poems  were 
each  to  make  a  selection,  it  is  probable  that  few  would  be 
omitted  from  the  total  choice  of  all.  And  a  few  would 
be  found  in  every  collection.  Those  which  belong  to  that 
springtime  of  life,  as  well  as  of  the  year,  when  the  heart 
of  the  young  man  "  lightly  turns  to  love  "  will  appeal  to 


James  Russell  Lowell  3^5 

all  who  have  not  forgotten  when  they  too  were  young. 

In  "  My  Love  "  he  sang  for  himself  and  for  many  another 

youth : 

*'  Not  as  all  other  women  are 
Is  she  that  to  my  soul  is  dear." 

And,  of  course,  there  would  be  at  least  one  address  to 
"  The  Moon,"  and  also  a  "  Serenade,"  whose  burden  is : 

"  Must  we  forever,  then,  be  alone, 
Alone,  alone,  ah,  woe  !  alone  !  " 

There  are  songs  in  the  same  strain  to  "Allegra,"  to 
"M.  L.,"  to  "Perdita,"  to  "Rosaline,"  which  any  lover 
might  be  proud  to  write  for  another  man  ;  but  p^^^^^^  ^^ 
then  if  he  had  the  courage  to  print  them  as  s«"**"*®"*- 
the  outpourings  of  his  own  young  heart  he  must,  when 
older,  "  accept  with  silent  contrition  the  consequences,  and 
consent  to  the  reprinting  of  old  editions  without  excision," 
as  the  poet  himself  did  against  his  will,  adding  Petrarch's 
words  to  Boccaccio,  "  We  neither  of  us  are  such  poets  as 
we  thought  ourselves  when  we  were  younger."  It  should 
be  said,  however,  that  this  poet's  lady-love  was  all  that 
his  pen  portrayed,  and  that  her  strong  convictions  on  a 
great  philanthropic  question  turned  Lowell  from  the  more 
than  indifference  of  his  Commencement  poem  to  the 
championship  exhibited  in  the  "  Biglow  Papers." 

When  his  life  was  no  longer  "alone,"  manifold  and 
larger  interests  began  to  appeal  to  a  thoughtful  spirit  med- 
itating upon  the  problems  and  touched  by  the  Graver 
sad  experiences  which  come  to  alL  The  for-  ^*"*- 
tunes  of  rich  and  poor  are  set  forth  in  "  The  Heritage ; "  the 
sickness  which  wastes  alarms  in  "  The  Prayer ; "  the  death 
which  comes  is  deplored  in  "  The  Requiem."  In  "  Rhoe- 
cus"  is  discovered  the  poet's  large  sympathy  with  the 


3i6  American  Literature 

voices  of  nature,  and  with  its  hidden  beauty  in  "  Beaver 
Brook,"  and  in  the  "  Stanzas  on  Freedom "  an  early  note 
that  was  prolonged  in  fuller  strain  in  the  "Interview 
with  Miles  Standish  "  and  the  "  Capture  of  the  Fugitives." 
As  the  climax  of  all  this  early  verse,  "  The  Vision  of  Sir 
Launfal"  unites  the  spirit  of  the  seasons  with  the  pur- 
pose of  the  heart  and  finds  the  guerdon  that  is  sought 
wearily  and  afar  in  the  lowly  disguise  of  an  overlooked 
opportunity  lying  as  a  beggar  at  the  doors. 

"  His  words  were  shed  softer  than  leaves  from  the  pine, 
And  they  fell  on  Sir  Launfal  as  snows  on  the  brine, 
That  mingle  their  softness  and  quiet  in  one 
With  the  shaggy  unrest  they  float  down  upon  ; 
And  the  voice  that  was  softer  than  silence  said, 
'  Lo  it  is  I,  be  not  afraid  ! 
In  many  climes,  without  avail, 
Thou  hast  spent  thy  life  for  the  Holy  Grail ; 
Behold  it  is  here,  —  this  cup  which  thou 
Didst  fill  at  the  streamlet  for  me  but  now ; 
This  crust  is  my  body  broken  for  thee. 
This  water  his  blood  that  died  on  the  tree ; 
The  Holy  Supper  is  kept,  indeed, 
In  whatso  we  share  with  another's  need ; 
Not  what  we  give,  but  what  we  share. 
For  the  gift  without  the  giver  is  bare  ; 
Who  gives  himself  with  his  alms  feeds  three, 
Himself,  his  hungering  neighbor,  and  me.* 
Sir  Launfal  awoke  as  from  a  swound : 
*  The  Grail  in  my  castle  here  is  found  I 
Hang  my  idle  armor  up  on  the  wall, 
Let  it  be  the  spider's  banquet-hall ; 
•     He  must  be  fenced  with  stronger  mail 
Who  would  seek  and  find  the  Holy  Grail.' 

"  The  Castle  gate  stands  open  now, 
And  the  wanderer  is  welcome  to  the  hall 
As  the  hang-bird  is  to  the  elm -tree  bough ; 
No  longer  scowl  the  turrets  tall, 


James  Russell  Lowell  317 

The  Summer's  long  siege  at  last  is  o'er ; 

When  the  first  poor  outcast  went  in  at  the  door, 

She  entered  with  him  in  disguise 

And  mastered  the  fortress  by  surprise ; 

There  is  no  spot  she  loves  so  well  on  ground, 

She  lingers  and  smiles  there  the  whole  year  round ; 

The  meanest  serf  on  Sir  Launfal's  land 

Has  hall  and  bower  at  his  command  ; 

And  there 's  no  poor  man  in  the  North  Countree 

But  is  lord  of  the  earldom  as  much  as  he.'* 

No  student  of  American  literature  can  afford  to  pass 
over  "  A  Fable  for  Critics,"  in  which  is  reck-  ..  p^^^j^  ^^^ 
lessly  told  what  the  prince  of  critics  thought  of  ^"*^*^-" 
his  fellows  and  contemporary  authors.     First  he  pays  a 
compliment  to  the  critic  as 

"  One  of  the  omnivorous  swallowers. 
Who  bolt  every  book  that  comes  out  of  the  press, 
Without  the  least  question  of  larger  or  less, 
A  reading  machine  always  wound  up  and  agoing, 
He  masters  whatever  is  not  worth  the  knowing, 
Then,  rising  by  industry,  knack  and  address, 
Gets  notices  up  for  an  unbiased  press." 

And  so  on  for  several  pages  of  pasquinade  on  the  craft  of 
reviewers  with  a  jeering  audacity  which  reminds  one  of 
the  taunts  of  his  tormentors  by  an  Indian  brave  tied  to 
the  stake  and  waiting  to  be  roasted. 

His  characterization  of  his  literary  co-workers  was 
taken  with  more  or  less  good  grace,  according  as  they  felt 
secure  or  otherwise  in  their  position  and  above  the  daring 
frolicsomeness  of  a  youthful  member  of  the  guild  of 
letters.  Emerson  doubtless  smiled  in  a  charitable,  philo- 
sophic way,  as  well  he  might,  over  the  sum  of  what  was 
said,  while  WHlis  cannot  be  blamed  for  putting  up  a 
supercilious  stare  at  the  newcomer,  and   Bryant  might 


3i8  American  Literature 

justly  have  turned  cooler  than  usual  after  being  compared 
to  an  iceberg.  Whittier  could  not  have  relished  allusion 
to  incorrect  syntax  and  prosody,  nor  Dana  to  his  own 
idleness  and  indecision.  And  so  of  others  —  Parker, 
Cooper,  Longfellow,  Halleck,  Poe,  Irving,  Holmes,  and 
finally,  as  a  sop  to  Cerberus,  Lowell  wrote  of  himself : 

•*  There  is  Lowell,  who 's  striving  Parnassus  to  climb. 
With  a  whole  bale  of  isms  tied  together  with  rhyme. 
His  lyre  has  some  chords  that  would  ring  pretty  well, 
But  he  'd  rather  by  half  make  a  drum  of  the  shell, 
And  rattle  away  till  he  's  old  as  Methusalem, 
At  the  head  of  a  march  to  the  New  Jerusalem." 

But  this  was  always  some  city  of  God,  and  the  verse 

which  he  wrote  on  the  way  or  beneath  its  walls  had  in  it 

the  rinff  of  the  old  crusading  hymns.   To  it  one 

War  Poems.  .-,,  ^  ,  .  ,  ,  ,   , 

Will  turn  from  the  merry  quips  of  youthful 

rhyme  as  to  the  deeper  currents  on  which  the  other  floated 

as  bubbles  of  mirth.     How  deep  and  strong  were  these 

currents  of  devotion  to  what  was  best  in  human  life  and 

national  life  is  seen  in  the   poems   of  his  later  years. 

Particularly  in  the   collection  entitled  "Poems   of  the 

War  "  is  revealed  a  patriotism  whose  strength  and  sincerity 

are  measured  by  the  tributes    to   kindred   and   friends 

fallen  in  the  strife.     "  The  Washers  of  the  Shroud  "  is  the 

war  song   of  an  uplifted  manhood,  gathering  itself  in 

the  first  year  of  conflict  for  the  doing  and  the  suffering 

which  was  to  come  in  the  succeeding  years  of  uncertain 

duration  and  final  issue.     Then  followed  the  requiem  for 

one  who  — 

"  Right  in  the  van, 
On  the  red  rampart's  slippery  swell. 
With  heart  that  beat  a  charge,  he  fell 
Forward,  as  fits  a  man." 


James  Russell  Lowell  319 

The  culmination  of  all  the  poetry  of  that  fateful  time 

came   in   the   "  Commemoration   Ode "    of    1865,   when 

Harvard  laid  the  laurel  wreath  on  the  grave  of  her  sons 

who  had  died  to  save  the  nation.     In  it  Lowell  is  seen  at 

his  best  and  noblest,  chanting  a  dirge  for  the  heroes  slain 

which  becomes  a  song  of  triumph  at  last  for  a  nation 

saved : 

**  Be  proud !  for  she  is  saved,  and  all  have  helped  to  save  her ! 
She  that  lifts  up  the  manhood  of  the  poor, 
She  of  the  open  soul  and  open  door, 
With  room  about  her  hearth  for  all  mankind  ! 

♦*  What  were  our  lives  without  thee? 
What  all  our  lives  to  save  thee  ? 
We  reck  not  what  we  gave  thee ; 
We  will  not  dare  to  doubt  thee, 
But  ask  whatever  else,  and  we  will  dare  !  " 

Memorial  poems  follow  this  lofty  strain  as  prolonged 
echoes,  and  then  the  themes  of  peace  conclude  the  product 
of  years.  A  tribute  to  Curtis  and  another  to  Agassiz  show 
how  far  elegiac  verse  has  drifted  from  Puritan  fashions. 
"Endymion"  is  a  glance  backward  toward  Greece  and 
myth,  "  Phoebe  "  a  return  to  birdland  and  the  dews  of  the 
morning.  "  Fitz  Adam's  Story  "  is  the  fragment  of  an  im- 
completed  series  after  the  manner  of  the  "Canterbury 
Tales,"  in  which  the  humorist  gets  back  to  Yankee- 
land  again  with  Ezra  Weeks  and  Uncle  Eeuben  and  Jethro 
and  other  down-easters  in  the  tavern  on  Quompegan  street. 
And  there  the  poetic  side  of  Lowell  must  be  left  with  his 
cronies,  but  not  in  a  room  which  might  have  been  across 
the  road,  the  picture  of  which  is  worthy  of  Chaucer : 

"  There  was  a  parlor  in  the  house,  a  room 
To  make  you  shudder  with  its  prudish  gloom. 
The  furniture  stood  round  with  such  an  air, 
There  seemed  an  old  maid's  ghost  in  every  chair, 


320  American  Literature 

Which  looked  as  it  had  scuttled  to  its  place 
And  pulled  extempore  a  Sunday  face. 
Too  smugly  proper  for  a  world  of  sin, 
Like  boys  on  whom  the  minister  comes  in. 
The  table,  fronting  you  with  icy  stare 
Strove  to  look  witless  that  its  legs  were  bare, 
While  the  black  sofa  with  its  horse-hair  pall 
Gloomed  like  a  bier  for  Comfort's  funeral. 
Each  piece  appeared  to  do  its  chilly  best 
To  seem  an  utter  stranger  to  the  rest, 
As  if  acquaintanceship  were  deadly  sin. 
Like  Britons  meeting  in  a  foreign  inn. 
Two  portraits  graced  the  wall  in  grimmest  truth, 
Mister  and  Mistress  W.  in  their  youth,  — 
New  England  youth,  that  seems  a  sort  of  pill, 
Half  wish-I-dared,  half  Edwards  on  the  Will, 
Bitter  to  swallow,  and  which  leaves  a  trace 
Of  Calvinistic  colic  on  the  face. 
Between  them,  o'er  the  mantel,  hung  in  state 
Solomon's  temple,  done  in  copperplate; 
Invention  pure,  but  meant,  we  may  presume, 
To  give  some  Scripture  sanction  to  the  room. 
Facing  this,  two  samplers  you  might  see. 
Each,  with  its  urn  and  stiffly- weeping  tree, 
Devoted  to  some  memory  long  ago 
More  faded  than  their  lines  of  worsted  woe ; 
But  paper  decked  their  frames  against  the  flies, 
Though  none  dared  an  entrance  who  were  wise, 
And  bushed  asparagus  in  fading  green 
Added  its  shiver  to  the  franklin  clean." 

The  prose  writings  must  have  less  attention  than  they 
deserve.  For  the  most  part  they  are  the  result  of  three 
Prose  years'  editorship  of  the  "Atlantic  Monthly" 

Writings.         ^^   Qf   j^g   yg^^g   ^^  ^-^Q  g^^^  Qf  ^l^g  «  Jj^OTth 

American  Eeview."  No  one  can  say  how  much  of  this 
would  have  been  furnished  in  addition  to  the  labors  of 
his  Harvard  professorship  if  it  had  not  been  for  the 
demands   of  these  periodicals.      Emerson   loftily  says: 


James  Russell  Lowell  321 

*'  Hitch  your  wagon  to  a  star."  This  is  well  enough  for 
the  sage  of  Concord,  but  to  get  the  most  out  of  a  common 
man  hitch  him  to  a  printing  press  that  is  ran  on  schedule 
time.  Fortunately  Lowell  had  to  be  on  time  but  once  a 
month  with  the  "  Atlantic  "  and  once  a  quarter  with  the 
"  Eeview,"  but  that  was  often  enough  for  what  he  brought 
to  press.  In  some  of  his  contributions  there  is  stock  suf- 
ficient to  furnish  an  ordinary  writer  for  a  lifetime  if  it 
should  be  judiciously  watered.  In  other  essays  it  might 
require  a  short  lifetime  to  foUow  to  their  remote  starting 
places  the  lines  of  allusion  and  suggestion  that  are  con- 
centred within  the  compass  of  a  half-hour's  reading. 
These  allusions  have  sometimes  been  an  offence  to  critics, 
who  have  in  consequence  called  Lowell  pedantic.  Of 
course  the  pleasing  quality  of  an  allusion  depends  upon 
the  reader's  acquaintance  with  what  is  alluded  to;  but  if 
he  should  not  happen  to  have  been  so  extensive  a  traveller 
in  the  domains  of  literature,  history,  or  science  as  his 
author,  any  mention  of  something  he  has  not  met  with  is 
exasperating.  He  may  have  to  stop  and  consult  some 
book  of  reference.  On  the  other  hand  it  is  complimentary 
in  a  writer  to  take  for  granted  that  his  reader's  information 
equals  his  own,  and  allusion  to  things  familiar  to  him  is 
on  the  whole  more  pardonable  than  ignorance  about  them. 
His  early  punning  propensity  cannot,  to  be  sure,  be  so 
easily  condoned.  It  belongs  to  the  effervescence  of  youth, 
which  he  was  long  in  outgrowing,  and  is  as  reprehensible 
as  the  froth  from  a  beer  bottle  just  uncorked,  which  has, 
however,  the  merit  of  indicating  that  what  follows  will  not 
be  stale.  And  as  for  his  enlivening  fancy,  its  evolutions 
and  transformations  are  pyrotechnic  to  the  matter-of-fact 
reader,  but  radiant  with  creative  light  to  a  sympathetic 


21 


322  American  Literature 

understanding.  It  is  the  glow  of  a  living  intelligence 
throwing  off  heat  and  splendor,  quickening  and  illuminat- 
ing anything  within  its  reach  —  except  those  who  put  on 
smoked  and  critical  glasses  to  count  the  number  of  scin- 
tillations per  minute. 

The  range  of  these  essays  is  almost  as  wide  as  that  of 
the  author's  learning  or  his  fancy.  Critical  a  large  part 
of  them  would  naturally  be  from  his  editorial  position, 
but  the  criticism  is  creative  and  suggestive  and  apprecia- 
tive as  well  as  corrective.  It  opens  the  gates  into  wide 
and  often  unexplored  fields  of  literature,  where  the  diffi- 
culty of  following  him  becomes  a  pleasure.  In  his 
"  Library  of  Old  English  Authors  "  he  gives  glimpses  of 
treasures  unsuspected  by  the  reader  of  modern  books.  In 
the  essays  upon  Chaucer  and  Spenser  and  Shakespeare  and 
Milton,  Dryden,  Pope,  Wordsworth,  and  Coleridge  he 
displays  the  wealth  of  English  poetry,  with  frequent 
allusion  to  the  classics  of  other  lands.  The  literature  of 
travel  is  enriched  by  his  "  Italy,"  and  "  At  Sea ; "  of  the 
woods,  by  his  "Moosehead  Journal;"  of  the  academic 
town,  by  "  Cambridge  Thirty  Years  Ago ; "  of  biography, 
by  his  reminiscences  of  distinguished  contemporaries, 
American  and  foreign.  Even  the  New  England  climate  is 
treated  better  than  it  deserves  in  his  "  A  Good  Word  for 
Winter ; "  also  critical  travellers  from  over  the  sea  in  his 
"  Condescension  in  Foreigners."  "  *  How  am  I  vulgar  ?  * 
asks  the  [American]  culprit,  shudderingly.  'Because 
thou  art  not  like  unto  Us,'  answers  Lucifer,  son  of  the 
morning,  and  there  is  no  more  to  be  said."  For  a  re- 
turned ambassador  who  has  been  accused  of  un-American 
sympathies  this  essay  should  be  a  vindication,  if  his 
patriotism  ever  needed  defending.    It  is  also  good  to  read 


James  Russell  Lowell  322 

as  a  tonic  before  crossing  the  Atlantic,  or  after  returning 
as  a  restorative  to  a  disturbed  equilibrium. 

It  may  be  true  that  Lowell  is  an  author  for  the  studious 
rather  than  the  man  of  affairs  —  to  use  an  indefinite  term. 
But  all  pleasure  of  reading  does  not  consist  in  ease  of 
apprehension;  if  so,  children's  books  would  drive  all 
others  from  the  market.  On  the  other  hand,  this  ease 
does  not  always  measure  the  cost  of  writing  what  is  com- 
prehended or  its  value.  No  reader  of  Lowell  can  fail  to 
see  that  the  spoils  of  all  the  empires  have  been  brought 
together,  and  that  they  are  at  the  service  of  any  one  who 
can  bring  to  their  inspection  sufficient  information  to 
appreciate  their  worth.  It  is  like  appraising  oriental 
fabrics.  Such  an  one  will  be  likely  to  carry  away  more 
than  he  brings. 

A '  passage  out  of  his  "  Study  of  Modern  Languages " 
is  a  fair  example  of  his  easy  familiarity  with  ancient 
and  modern  literatures  as  well  as  of  his  large-mindedness : 

"  You  all  remember  Du  Bellay's  eloquent  protest,  *  I  cannot 
sufficiently  blame  the  foolish  arrogance  and  temerity  of  some  of 
our  nation,  who,  being  least  of  all  Greeks  or  Latins,  depreciate 
and  reject  with  a  more  than  Stoic  brow  everything  written  in 
French.*  When  this  was  said,  Montaigne  was  already  sixteen 
years  old,  and  France  had  produced  in  Rabelais  a  great  humorist 
and  strangely  open-eyed  thinker,  and  in  Villon  a  poet  who  had 
written  at  least  one  immortal  poem,  the  burden  of  which  falters 
and  fades  away  like  the  last  stroke  of  Beauty's  passing-bell.  I 
must  not  let  you  forget  that  Du  Bellay  had  formed  himself  on 
the  classics,  and  that  he  insists  on  the  assiduous  study  of  them. 
*  Devour  them,'  he  says,  *  not  in  order  to  imitate,  but  to  turn 
them  into  blood  and  nutriment.*  And  surely  this  always  has 
been  and  always  will  be  their  true  use.  .  .   . 

"  It  is  instructive  that,  only  fifty  years  after  Du  Bellay  wrote 


324  American  Literature 

the  passage  I  have  quoted,  Bishop  Hall  was  indirectly  praising 
Sydney  for  having  learned  in  France  and  brought  back  with 
him  to  England  that  very  specialty  of  culture  which  we  are 
told  can  only  be  got  in  ancient  Greece,  or,  at  second  hand  in 
ancient  Rome.  And  did  not  Spenser  form  himself  on  French 
and  Italian  models  ?  Did  not  Chaucer  and  Gower,  the  shapers 
of  our  tongue,  draw  from  the  same  sources  1 

"  "What  I  would  urge,  therefore,  is  that  no  invidious  distinction 
be  made  between  the  Old  Learning  and  the  New,  but  that 
students,  due  regard  being  had  to  their  temperaments  and 
faculties,  should  be  encouraged  to  take  the  course  in  modern 
languages  as  being  quite  as  good  in  point  of  mental  discipline  as 
any  other,  if  pursued  with  the  same  thoroughness  and  to  the 
same  end.  And  that  end  is  Literature,  for  there  language  first 
attains  to  full  consciousness  of  its  powers  and  to  the  delighted 
exercise  of  them.  And  has  no  page  been  added  to  it  since  the 
last  ancient  classic  author  laid  down  his  pen  ? " 

Where  there  is  such  wealth  of  resource,  diversity  of 
mood,  and  even  variety  of  style  it  seems  impertinent  to 
take  a  page  from  a  dozen  volumes  to  represent  so  versatile 
a  writer.  As  many  pages  would  be  required  to  give  a 
glimpse  of  his  many  sides.  One  or  two  more  of  them 
only  can  be  afforded ;  the  first  as  bearing  upon  the  present 
movement  toward  a  literary  metropolis ;  —  the  second  will 
explain  itself  as  another  kind  of  movement. 

"  The  want  of  a  focus  of  intellectual,  political,  and  material 
activity  has  had  more  to  do  with  the  backwardness  and  provin- 
cialism of  our  literature  than  is  generally  taken  into  account. 
I  make  bold  to  doubt  whether  national  consciousness  will  ever 
pour  itself  into  and  reinforce  the  individual  consciousness  in  a 
way  to  make  our  literature  feel  itself  of  age  and  its  own  master, 
tiU  we  shall  have  got  a  common  head  as  well  as  a  common  body. 
It  is  not  the  size  of  a  city  that  gives  it  this  stimulating  and 
expanding  quality,  but  the  fact  that  it  sums  up  and  gathers  all 


James  Russell  Lowell  32 ^ 

the  moral  and  intellectual  forces  of  a  country  in  a  single  focus. 
London  is  still  the  metropolis  of  the  British  as  Paris  of  the 
French  race.  We  admit  this  readily  enough  as  regards  Australia 
or  Canada,  but  we  willingly  overlook  it  as  regards  ourselves. 
Washington  is  growing  more  national  and  more  habitable  every 
year,  but  it  will  never  be  a  capital  till  every  kind  of  culture  is 
attainable  there  on  as  good  terms  as  elsewhere.  Why  not  better 
than  elsewhere  ?  We  are  rich  enough.  Bismarck's  first  care  has 
been  the  Museums  of  Berlin.  For  a  fiftieth  part  of  the  money 
Congress  seems  willing  to  waste  in  demoralizing  the  country,  we 
might  have  had  the  Hamilton  books  and  the  far  more  precious 
Ashburnham  manuscripts.  Whatever  place  can  draw  together 
the  greatest  amount  and  the  greatest  variety  of  intellect  and 
character,  the  most  abundant  elements  of  civilization,  performs 
the  best  function  of  a  university.  London  was  such  a  centre 
in  the  days  of  Queen  Elizabeth.  And  think  what  a  school  the 
Mermaid  Tavern  must  have  been  ! " 

And  this  in  another  vein : 

"  The  sea  was  meant  to  be  looked  at  from  shore,  as  mountains 
are  from  the  plain.  Lucretius  made  this  discovery  long  ago 
and  was  blunt  enough  to  blurt  it  forth,  romance  and  sentiment 
—  in  other  words,  the  pretence  of  feeling  what  we  do  not  feel  — 
being  inventions  of  a  later  day.  I  rather  think  Petrarch  was  the 
first  choragus  of  that  sentimental  dance  which  so  long  led  young 
folks  away  from  the  realities  of  life  like  the  Piper  of  Hamelin, 
and  whose  succession  ended,  let  us  hope,  with  Chateaubriand. 
I  know  nothing  so  tedious  at  once  and  so  exasperating  as  that 
regular  slap  of  the  wilted  sails  when  the  ship  rises  and  falls  with 
the  slow  breathing  of  the  sleeping  sea,  one  greasy,  brassy  swell 
following  another,  slow,  smooth,  unmitigable  as  the  series  of 
Wordsworth's  *  Ecclesiastical  Sonnets.'  Fancy  an  existence  in 
which  the  coming  up  of  a  clumsy  finback  whale,  who  says 
Pooh  !  to  you  solemnly  as  you  lean  over  the  taffrail,  is  an  event 
as  exciting  as  an  election  on  shore!  The  dampness  seems  to 
strike  into  the  wits  as  into  lucifer  matches,  so  that  one  may 


;^26  American  Literature 

scratch  a  thought  half  a  dozen  times  and  get  nothing  at  last  but 
a  faint  sputter.  I  have  seen  men  driven  to  five  meals  a  day  for 
mental  occupation.  I  sometimes  sit  and  pity  Noah ;  but  even 
he  had  this  advantage  over  all  succeeding  navigators,  that, 
wherever  he  landed,  he  was  sure  to  get  no  ill  news  from  home. 
He  should  be  canonized  as  the  patron  saint  of  newspaper  corre- 
spondents, being  the  only  man  who  ever  had  the  very  last 
authentic  news  from  everywhere." 


xxvm 

OLIVER  WENDELL  HOLMES 

The  survivor  of  what  may  be  called  the  Cambridge  group 
of  writers  had,  like  the  others,  his  distinctive  personality 
and  his  own  acre  which  he  cultivated.  The  last,  geo- 
graphically considered,  was  situated  somewhere  on  a  line 
drawn  from  the  State  House  to  Harvard  College  through 
Beacon  street.  It  was  always  in  the  greater  Boston,  to 
him  the  centre  of  the  universe.  Intellectually  the  plat 
which  he  worked  over  was  of  similiar  extent,  but  wonder- 
fully productive.  People  of  the  provincial  town  —  as  dis- 
tinguished from  Lowell 's  back-countrymen,  —  ideas  of  a 
reactionary  period  to  be  smiled  at,  with  the  exception 
of  the  liberal  movement  in  religion,  combined  with  certain 
professional  theories,  made  up  the  possibilities  of  his  out- 
put. His  chief  opportimities  were  successive  numbers  of 
the  "  Atlantic  Monthly,"  to  which  he  gave  the  name,  and 
anniversary  celebrations  at  Harvard. 

He  may  be  said  to  have  been  bom  for  these  last  occa- 
sions, since  on  Commencement  Day,  1809,  his  father, 
Eev.  Abiel  Holmes,  wrote  iu  his  almanac  oppo- 
site Aug.  29,  "  Son  b.,"  and  sprinkling  sand 
upon  the  ink  probably  started  for  the  "  exercises,"  which 
were  in  those  days  of  greater  interest  to  city  and  country 
than  an  ordiuation  or  a  circus  of  the  period.  He  was  a 
man  of  renown,  son-in-law  and  biographer  of  President 
Stiles  of  Yale  and  author  of  the  "  Annals  of  America," 

327 


328  American  Literature 

besides  being  pastor  of  the  first  parish  in  Cambridge,  not- 
withstanding his  New  Haven  education.  Son  Oliver 
Wendell  would  have  dwelt  longer  on  his  descent  from  the 
fine  old  families  represented  by  these  two  names  than  can 
be  done  here,  for  it  was  one  of  the  cardinal  points  of  his 
belief  that  a  man  should  be  very  careful  in  selecting  his 
ancestors.  His  own  were  the  best  that  New  England 
could  furnish. 

It  was  inevitable  that  the  boy  of  sixteen  should  enter 

Harvard,  and  from  a  rhyming  tendency  already   shown 

that  he  should  deliver  poems  before  the  Hasty 

Early  Verse. 

Pudding  Club  at  junior  exhibition  and  at  the 
Commencement  of  1829.  His  first  printed  collection  of 
verse,  written  while  a  law  student,  is  called  "  Eunaway 
Ballads,"  possibly  from  one  on  a  proposed  elopement, 
which  contains  this : 

"  Get  up !  get  up  !  Miss  Polly  Jones,  the  tandem 's  at  the  door  ; 
Get  up  and  shake  your  lovely  bones,  it 's  twelve  o'clock  and  more ; 
The  chaises  they  have  rattled  by  and  nothing  stirs  around, 
And  all  the  world  but  you  and  me  are  snoring  safe  and  sound." 

But  at  this  date  he  could  also  write  something  as  good 
as  "  Old  Ironsides,"  and  thus  foreshow  the  twofold  direc- 
tion in  which  his  poetic  gift  would  win  its  triumphs.  As 
a  testimony  to  the  practical  value  of  his  early  verse  it 
should  be  added,  that  this  burst  of  reverent  patriotism  in- 
spired the  universal  protest  which  saved  the  old  "  Consti- 
tution "  from  being  broken  up. 

Holmes  found  the  study  of  medicine,  for  which  he  had 
abandoned  that  of  the  law,  stiU  less  congenial  to  the 
occaiionai  poetic  musc,  notwithstanding  two  years  of  study 
^°**'^'  and  travel  in  Europe.     Nothing  that  he  saw 

there  made  him  forget  his  beloved  Boston,  to  which  he 


Oliver  Wendell  Holmes  329 

returned  in  1835  to  take  his  degree  as  a  poet  by  reading 
at  Harvard  the  next  year  a  long  poem  entitled  "  Poetry,  a 
Metrical  Essay,"  the  first  of  over  fifty  which  he  delivered 
on  similar  occasions  during  his  life.  He  was  preemi- 
nently the  poet  of  occasion  —  celebrations,  anniversaries, 
and  public  festivals.  He  was  always  ready  and  good- 
natured,  being  at  length  beyond  the  unpoetical  suggestions 
of  the  dissecting-room  or  at  least  accustomed  to  them.  It 
was  in  the  days  of  the  "  Autocrat  "  that  he  remarks :  "  My 
friend  the  poet  tells  me  he  has  to  leave  town  whenever 
the  anniversaries  come  round.  What's  the  difficulty? 
Why,  they  all  want  him  to  get  up  and  make  speeches  or 
songs  or  toasts,  which  is  just  the  very  thing  he  does  n't 
want  to  do.  But  they  tease  him  and  coax  him  and  by 
pressure  on  the  weak  spot  of  his  head  stupefy  him  to  the 
point  of  acquiescence."  And  then  he  explains  how  the 
poet  goes  into  his  garden  and  pulls  up  a  handful  of  violets 
and  weeds  with  the  earth  sticking  to  them,  which  is  his 
idea  of  a  postprandial  performance  of  which  this  is  the 
first  stanza  of  an  example : 

"  Brave  singer  of  the  coming  time, 

Sweet  minstrel  of  the  joyous  present, 
Crowned  with  the  noblest  wreath  of  rhyme, 

The  holly  leaf  of  Ayshire  peasant, 
Qood-by !  Good-by !  Our  hearts  and  hands. 

Our  lips  in  honest  Saxon  phrases, 
Cry,  God  be  with  him  till  he  stands 

His  feet  among  the  English  daisies  I " 

Holmes  always  had  the  rare  talent  of  writing  in  his 
library  just  what  would  fit  the  after-dinner  mood  of  the 
company.  There  was  champagne  in  his  brain.  He  says 
himself :  "  Song  intoxicates  the  poet.  His  brain  rings 
with  it  for  hours  or  days  or  weeks  after  it  has  chimed  itself 


33^  American  Literature 

through  his  consciousness."  But  it  is  not  every  versifier 
who  can  attain  the  exactly  proper  degree  of  inebriety 
the  day  before  dinner,  as  this  poet  could. 

The  extent  of  his  possible  effervescence  is  indicated  by 

examples  with  which  his  readers  are  familiar.     Each  one 

will  recall  his  favorite,  and  every  one  "  The 

Humor. 

One-Hoss  Shay,"  and  "How  the  Old  Horse 
Won  the  Bet,"  both  of  which  betray  Cavalier  blood  from 
some  remote  knight,  or  possibly  from  a  nearer  judge  of 
horseflesh.  And  with  the  moral  of  the  last  always  in 
mind  that  "  A  horse  can  trot  for  all  he's  old,"  he  makes 
many  a  happy  hit  in  the  offerings  which  he  brought  to  the 
narrowing  circle  of  his  classmates  as  they  met  year  by 
year.  Age  could  not  dull  the  cheerful  humor  with  which 
he  met  its  steady  advance.  The  "Class  Poems"  for 
thirty-eight  years,  from  "  Bill  and  Joe"  in  '51  to  "After 
the  Curfew"  in  '89,  are  bright  with  reminiscence  and 
hopes. 

"  So  ends  *  The  Boys,'  a  lifelong  play, 

"We  too  must  hear  the  prompter's  call 
To  fairer  scenes  and  brighter  day, 

Farewell  I     I  let  the  curtain  fall." 

Beyond  all  the  wit  and  humor  of  his  verse  was  the 
pathos  which  is  their  nearest  neighbor  in  exalted  charac- 
ters. It  is  not  always  possible  for  dull  spirits 
to  distinguish  between  buoyancy  and  levity 
any  more  than  between  irony  and  sarcasm,  humor  and 
wit.  Even  a  book  of  synonyms  does  not  help  their  per- 
ceptive faculties.  But  the  dullest  know  the  difference 
between  laughter  and  tears,  and  this  writer  knew  how  to 
move  his  hearers  and  readers  to  the  one  or  the  other  at 
wilL     This,  too,  without  pretence  of  art  or  purpose.     He 


Oliver  Wendell  Holmes  33^ 

simply  spoke  out  the  suggestions  of  an  April  heart, 
with  its  sunshine  and  showers,  restraining  neither  its 
gladness  nor  its  gloom.  The  total  effect,  however,  is  as 
the  joy  of  springtime  and  not  the  melancholy  of  autumn. 
Let  those  who  are  growing  old  read  "  In  the  Twilight " : 

*•  Not  bedtime  yet !     The  full-blown  flower 
Of  all  the  year  —  this  evening  hoar  — 

With  friendship's  flame  is  bright ; 
Life  still  is  sweet,  the  heavens  are  fair. 
Though  fields  are  brown  and  woods  are  bare, 
And  many  a  joy  is  left  to  share 

Before  we  say  good-night ! 

"  And  when,  our  cheerful  evening  past, 
The  nurse,  long  waiting,  comes  at  last, 

Ere  on  her  lap  we  lie 
In  wearied  nature's  sweet  repose, 
At  peace  with  all  her  waking  foes, 
Our  lips  shall  murmur  ere  they  close. 

Good-night !  and  not  good-by  !  '* 

Holmes'  verse  is  by  no  means  confined  to  poems  of 
sentiment.  The  title  to  those  written  between  '49  and 
'65  —  "  Songs  in  Many  Keys  "  — might  be  pre- 

Range. 

fixed  to  the  entire  collection  in  two  goodly  vol- 
umes. They  range  from  the  ploughman  to  the  warrior,  from 
Maid  Agnes  to  St.  Anthony,  from  Avis  to  the  Old  Man  of 
the  Sea,  from  Parson  Turrell  to  Shakespeare.  There  are 
songs  of  life  and  labor,  of  present  and  departed  days,  of 
festival  and  funeral,  of  greeting  and  farewell,  of  times  and 
seasons,  of  peace  and  war.  Those  labelled  "  In  War  Time" 
are  characteristic  of  this  poet,  as  Whittier's  and  Long- 
fellow's and  Lowell's  were  of  the  way  each  one  inter- 
preted its  message  to  the  nation.  The  manner  in  which 
different  people  and  parties  received  the  call  to  arms  is 


33'^  American  Literature 

clearly  stated  in  his  "  Thus  saith  the  Lord ; "  in  "  Never 
or  Now,"  an  equally  clear  summons  to  fill  up  the  ranks ; 
in  "  One  Country,"  the  better  sentiment  which  finally 
prevailed  from  the  lakes  to  the  gulf.  Through  them  all 
loyalty  to  the  flag,  to  union,  and  liberty  runs  in  unmis- 
takable strain,  of  which  this  stanza  of  the  "  Army  Hymn  " 
is  an  example : 

"  Wake  in  our  hearts  the  hving  fires, 
The  holy  faith  that  warmed  our  sires; 
Thy  hand  hath  made  our  nation  free; 
To  die  for  her  is  serving  thee." 

In  «  The  Temple,"  "  The  Last  Leaf,"  and  "  The  Cham- 
bered Nautilus"  the  poet  reaches  the  loftiest  height  which 
he  attained  in  verse,  culminating  in  the  final  stanza  of  the 
last  poem : 

"  Build  thee  more  stately  mansions,  0  my  soul, 

As  the  swift  seasons  roll ! 

Leave  thy  low  vaulted  past ! 
Let  each  new  temple,  nobler  than  the  last, 
Shut  thee  from  heaven  with  a  dome  more  vast, 

Till  thou  at  length  art  free, 
Leaving  thine  outgrown  shell  by  life's  unresting  sea !  " 

There  is  much  said  about  the  dead  line  of  fifty,  after 
crossing  which  a  man's  comfort  in  his  work  must  be 
"The Auto-  chiefly  in  looking  backward.  Holmes  was 
"^^"  within  one  step  of  this  supposed  Arctic  circle 

when  he  began  the  "  Autocrat "  papers  once  more,  after  an 
interruption  of  twenty-five  years,  "  to  see  if  the  ripe  fruit 
were  better  or  worse  than  the  early  windfalls."  He  found 
it  so  much  better  that  he  would  never  allow  those  two 
early  papers  in  the  "New  England  Magazine"  to  be  re- 
printed.   How  good  the  rest  of  the  reading  world  found 


Oliver  Wendell  Holmes  333 

the  entire  "  Breakfast  Table  Series  "  is  a  matter  of  literary 
history  connected  with  the  immediate  success  of  the  "  At- 
lantic Monthly  "  in  the  hard  times  ofl857and  later.  Those 
who  lived  in  those  years  felt  that  in  spite  of  financial 
straits  it  was  time  for  New  England  to  laugh.  It  had  not 
indulged  in  a  general  smile  for  two  hundred  and  forty 
years.  One  morning  a  genial  man  invited  himself  to 
breakfast  with  a  typical  family  of  boarders,  and  began  to 
tell  them  how  provincial  they  had  been  keeping  them- 
selves through  all  the  generations.  This  is  what  he  told 
them  about  their  literary  appetite : 

"These  United  States  furnish  the  greatest  market  for  intellec- 
tual green  fruit  of  all  the  places  in  the  world.  I  think  so,  at 
any  rate.  The  demand  for  intellectual  labor  is  so  enormous  and 
the  market  so  far  from  nice,  that  young  talent  is  apt  to  fare  like 
unripe  gooseberries,  —  get  plucked  to  make  a  fool  of.  Think  of  a 
country  which  buys  eighty  thousand  copies  of  th«  *  Proverbial 
Philosophy,*  while  the  author's  admiring  countrymen  have  been 
buying  twelve  thousand  I  How  can  one  let  his  fruit  hang  in 
the  sun  until  it  gets  fully  ripe  while  there  are  eighty  thousand 
such  hungry  mouths  ready  to  swallow  it  and  proclaim  its  praises  1 
Consequently,  there  never  was  such  a  collection  of  crude  pip- 
pins and  half-grown  windfalls  as  our  native  literature  displays 
among  its  fruits." 

Of  course,  readers  winced,  but  they  also  profited  by  his 
observations.  Besides,  he  told  them  many  other  and 
pleasanter  things  which  he  had  noted.  In  fact,  one  might 
suppose  that  the  "  Autocrat "  took  the  note-books  in  which 
he  had  been  jotting  down  the  best  thoughts  that  had 
come  to  him  in  a  quarter  of  a  century  and  strung  them 
upon  the  slightest  thread  of  a  story  without  much  change 
in  their  form.  The  very  dashes  which  precede  the  para- 
graphs are  such  as  would  be  made  in  a  note-book  before 


334  American  Literature 

each  disconnected  section.  Then  the  bracketed  comments 
on  his  own  remarks  show  the  added  material  as  plainly  as 
the  newly  constructed  dialogue.  But  it  is  all  delightful. 
No  such  table-talk  had  appeared  since  the  days  of  Hazlitt 
and  Coleridge,  "The  Shepherd"  and  "Christopher  North," 
and  theirs  was  not  like  this.  Even  the  personal  conceit 
is  pleasant  in  a  talker  who  is  his  own  Boswell. 

"  You  don't  suppose  that  my  remarks  made  at  this  table  are 
like  so  many  postage  stamps,  do  you  —  each  to  be  only  once  ut- 
tered ]  If  you  do  you  are  mistaken.  He  must  be  a  poor  crea- 
ture that  does  not  often  repeat  himself.  Imagine  the  author  of 
that  excellent  piece  of  advice,  '  Know  thyself,'  never  alluding 
to  that  sentiment  again  during  the  course  of  a  protracted  exist- 
ence !  Why,  the  truths  a  man  carries  about  with  him  are  his 
tools,  and  do  you  think  a  carpenter  is  bound  to  use  the  same 
plane  but  oncel  I  shall  never  repeat  a  conversation,  but  an 
idea  often.** 

If  one  should  permit  himself  to  quote  a  second  paragraph 
he  would  not  know  where  to  stop.  The  richness  of 
wisdom,  the  felicity  of  phrase,  the  amusing  conceits,  the 
sprightly  humor,  and  the  constant  relief  of  change  draw 
readers  on  as  nothing  can  outside  of  a  fascinating  romance. 
The  characters  which  he  created  for  fellow  boarders  are  of 
the  kind  to  give  point  and  direction  to  his  talk.  The 
landlady  and  her  daughter,  the  boy  called  John,  B.  F.,  the 
old  gentleman  opposite,  the  ancient  maiden,  the  divinity 
student,  and  himself  in  the  guise  of  professor  and  poet 
make  up  a  group  fit  for  a  society  novel,  with  the  school- 
mistress and  the  chief  speaker  to  furnish  the  sentiment. 
No  wonder  that  the  subscription  list  of  the  "Atlantic 
Monthly  "  lengthened  amazingly  after  the  first  breakfast  of 
this  remarkable  company.    To  be  sure,  there  were  dogmatic 


Oliver  Wendell  Holmes  335 

things  said  there  which  staggered  readers  in  the  "rural 
districts"  and  caused  sundry  denominational  journals  to 
say  plainly  what  they  regarded  as  the  final  destination 
of  the  unorthodox  author,  but  this  only  made  their  readers 
curious  to  know  what  he  had  said,  and  so  the  demand  for 
his  talk  increased  with  each  issue.  This  was  one  of  the 
alarming  paragraphs : 

"  Insanity  is  often  the  logic  of  an  accurate  mind  overtasked. 
Good  mental  machinery  ought  to  break  its  own  wheels  and 
levers,  if  anything  is  thrust  among  them  suddenly  which  tends 
to  stop  them  or  reverse  their  motion.  A  weak  mind  does  not 
accumulate  force  enough  to  hurt  itself;  stupidity  often  saves  a 
man  from  going  mad.  We  frequently  see  persons  in  insane 
hospitals,  sent  there  in  consequence  of  what  are  called  religious 
mental  disturbances.  I  confess  that  I  think  better  of  them  than 
of  many  who  hold  the  same  notions,  and  keep  their  wits  and 
appear  to  enjoy  life  well  outside  of  the  asylums.  Any  decent 
person  ought  to  go  mad,  if  he  really  holds  such  or  such  opinions. 
It  is  very  much  to  his  discredit  if  he  does  not.  What  is  the 
use  of  saying  what  some  of  these  opinions  are  1  Perhaps  more 
than  one  of  you  hold  such  as  I  should  think  ought  to  send  you 
straight  over  to  Somerville,  if  you  have  any  logic  in  your  heads 
or  any  human  feeling  in  your  hearts.  Anything  that  is  brutal, 
cruel,  heathenish,  that  makes  life  hopeless  for  the  most  of  man- 
kind and  perhaps  for  entire  races,  —  anything  that  assumes  the 
extermination  of  instincts  which  were  given  to  be  regulated,  — 
no  matter  by  what  name  you  call  it,  —  no  matter  whether  a 
fakir,  or  a  monk,  or  a  deacon  believes  it,  —  if  received,  ought  to 
produce  insanity  in  every  well  regulated  mind." 

When  the  series  was  finished  the  demand  for  more  con- 
tinued.    Accordingly   a   second,  and   after  a 

The  **  Profea- 

while  a  third  followed  under  the  titles  of  **  The  «or"  and 

"Professor"  and  "The  Poet  at  the  Breakfast 

Table."     Of  these  the  author  himself  said  that  they  were 


33^  American  Literature 

like  the  successive  squeezings  of  the  vintage,  but  some, 
like  Lowell,  preferred  the  second  run  to  the  first.  The 
third  had  the  advantage  of  some  years*  iaterval  between 
it  and  the  preceding  one. 

So  much  cannot  be  said  for  his  novels,  which  were  the 
experiments  of  a  professional  in  the  line  of  his  profession 
Fiction  and  ^^  iUustratc  thcorles  of  transmission  and  hered- 
Biography.      -^^^     « -g^g-^  Yenngr  "  has  the  kind  of  charm 

that  is  supposed  to  belong  to  the  eye  of  a  serpent.  "  The 
Guardian  Angel "  interests  by  its  portrayal  of  provincial 
traits,  and  the  "  Mortal  Antipathy  "  does  not  add  to  his  re- 
nown. Better  are  his  biographies  of  Motley  and  Emerson, 
works  of  sympathetic  and  keen  appreciation.  But  the 
hurried  reader  will  turn  first  to  the  earlier  writings  of  the 
Professor  and  Poet  in  his  chair  at  the  Breakfast  Table, 
where  he  is  at  his  best  and  supreme. 

The  entire  series  may  be  regarded  as  similar  brands 
from  the  same  choice  vine  which  had  its  roots  close  by  the 
fountains  of  wisdom  and  its  branches  spread  to  the  sun- 
light of  heaven.  The  warmth  of  a  genial  spirit  is  in  them, 
sparkling  with  vivacious  wit  and  cheerful  humor,  stimu- 
lating to  other  minds,  and  steadying  them  withal  by  its 
sane  intelligence.  It  is  the  rarefied  common  sense  of  the 
refined  American,  alert  and  discreet,  deft  and  graceful, 
thoughtful  and  conservative.  His  eye  was  keen  for  the 
vulnerable  spot  and  the  weak  one.  Physician  for  the 
spirit  as  well  as  the  body,  for  the  soul  cramps  which  New 
England  had  inherited  with  its  rheumatism,  he  knew  that 
laughter  at  its  own  infirmities  would  give  it  a  wholesome 
shaking  up,  even  if  accompanied  with  shrieks  of  protes- 
tation. His  hatred  of  Calvinism  and  homoeopathy  some- 
times made   "Physician,  heal  thyself"   an  appropriate 


Oliver  Wendell  Holmes  337 

rejoinder,  but  he  took  much  cant  and  nonsense  out  of  the 
age,  and  taught  the  difference  between  good  taste  and  poor 
in  life  and  letters,  between  pretence  and  reality,  honesty 
and  dishonesty,  affectation  and  sincerity,  a  little  knowl- 
edge and  profound  wisdom.  This  he  accomplished  in  the 
genuine  kindliness  of  a  gracious  disposition,  which  was 
humorous  without  bitterness  and  witty  without  malice; 
whose  pathos  never  descended  into  bathos,  having  always 
in  it  the  elements  of  cheerfulness  and  of  hope.  Accordingly 
his  place  is  among  the  bright  and  happy  spirits  in  literature 
to  whom  we  turn  when  we  wish  to  listen  to  revelations  of 
personality  like  those  of  Montaigne  and  Pepys  and  "  Kit 
North,"  or  to  be  reminded  of  talk  and  tables  at  the  Mer- 
maid Tavern,  at  Will's  Cofifee  House,  at  Button's,  at  Am- 
brose's, and  at  Essex  Head. 


22 


XXIX 

HENRY  DAVID  THOREAU 

In  an  age  of  high  civilization  a  tendency  is  often  de- 
tected to  break  loose  from  its  restraints  and  to  return  to 
Primitive  primitive  simplicity  of  living.  This  reversion 
Inclinations.  ^^  primeval  types  is  accomplished  in  the  ordi- 
nary citizen's  instance  by  "  taking  to  the  woods  "  for  a  few 
weeks  in  summer.  He  usually  gets  enough  of  the  dry 
and  wet  side  of  nature  to  last  him  for  the  remainder  of 
the  year  —  sometimes  longer.  Or  if  not,  he  satisfies  him- 
self and  his  family  by  the  experience  of  the  gentleman 
farmer  on  a  country  estate  not  too  far  from  town.  In 
both  these  cases,  however,  the  divorce  from  custom  is 
partial  and  generally  brief.  Canned  delicacies  follow  the 
sportsman  into  the  remotest  wilds,  and  the  self -rusticated 
tradesman  hitches  himself  to  a  telephone  wire  and  listens 
to  the  hum  of  the  city.  Now  and  then  at  long  intervals 
an  aboriginal  man  is  reproduced  who  harks  back  to  pris- 
tine methods  for  so  long  as  the  encroachments  of  civilized 
life  permit.  He  used  to  go  by  the  honored  name  of 
hermit ;  then  as  a  recluse,  now  as  an  odd  stick,  a  crank, 
or  a  solitary. 

The  last  man  of  consequence  to  set  up  this  secluded 
style  of  housekeeping  was  Thoreau,  bom  in  the  philoso- 
phers' town  of  old  Concord,  Massachusetts,  as  most  of 
these,  Emerson  included,  were  not.  By  the  strictest 
economies  his  family  helped  him  through  Harvard,  where 

338 


Henry  David  Thoreau  339 

he  devoted  himself  to  such  studies  as  pleased  him  best. 
After  graduation  he  earned  a  bare  living  by  surveying, 
gardening,  and  fence  building,  contriving  always  to  get 
half  of  each  day  off  to  search  fields  and  streams  and  woods 
for  any  new  or  old  word  which  nature  had  to  say  to  him. 
In  this  way  he  became  a  practical  naturalist  without 
troubling  himself  with  the  scientific  side  of  research,  as 
he  had  always  been  a  lover  of  nature's  common  ways, 
seeing  in  them  a  hundred  things  which  he  fancied  that 
most  men  do  not  observe.  In  this  he  was  frequently 
mistaken,  as  in  other  things,  where  he  supposed  himself 
to  be  the  original  discoverer.  However,  his  own  observa- 
tion was  always  as  good  to  him  as  a  first-class  discovery, 
and  he  made  the  most  of  it.  A  great  part  of  his  charm 
as  a  writer  is  the  naive  simplicity  with  which  he  describes 
things  as  new  that  several  other  observers  were  already 
familiar  with.  But  there  are  so  many  who  have  not 
observed  them,  and  others  still  who  would  rather  read 
about  them  than  get  their  feet  wet  in  finding  them,  that 
Thoreau  will  continue  to  be  the  best  naturalist  for  readers 
at  home.  For  as  next  to  going  a-fishing  is  to  read  Izaak 
Walton,  so  a  pleasanter  diversion  than  to  follow  in 
Thoreau's  tracks  through  thick  and  thin  is  to  read  how  he 
made  them  and  to  hear  him  tell  what  he  saw,  even  if  one 
has  seen  it  himself. 

In  1845,  at  the  age  of  twenty-eight,  he  built  for  himself 
a  hut  on  a  piece  of  woodland. owned  by  Emerson  on  the 
edge  of  Walden  pond.  There  he  stayed  as  alone  as  his 
curious  friends  would  permit  for  two  years  or  over,  "  to 
live  deliberately  and  to  front  only  the  essential  facts  of 
life  and  transact  some  private  business,"  as  he  said  ;  that 
is,  to  write  his  book  entitled  "  A  Week  on  the  Concord 


340  American  Literature 

and  Morrimac  Elvers."  Incidentally  he  also  gathered 
material  for  "  Walden,"  the  other  volume  which  was  pub- 
lished in  his  lifetime.  After  his  death  friends  collected 
other  writings  of  his,  amounting  to  nine  volumes  more. 
But  the  two  first  will  appeal  to  readers  as  having  the 
stamp  of  his  own  approval  and  consent  to  publish.  Of 
these  "  The  Week  "  is  an  account  of  such  a  boating  excur- 
sion as  any  boy  under  fifty  might  be  glad  to  make  with 
brother  or  comrade  on  a  stream  running  past  his  home. 
The  log  book  of  the  voyage  states  that  these  two  mariners 
weighed  anchor  on  Saturday,  a  favorite  day  for  embarking 
before  and  since  the  last  day  of  August,  1839.  Their 
fifteen-foot  dory,  which  had  already  cost  them  a  week's 
labor  in  the  spring,  was  painted  green  below  with  a  border 
of  blue,  "  with  reference  to  the  two  elements  in  which  it 
was  to  spend  its  existence."  It  was  also  provided  with 
wheels  for  transportation  around  falls.  As  became  vegeta- 
rians, it  was  provisioned  with  potatoes  and  melons  and 
furnished  with  cooking  utensils. 

Enough  has  been  said  of  this  amphibious  craft  to  bait 
the  ordinary  youth  on  to  reading  the  first  chapter  or  two, 
after  which  he  can  be  counted  on  to  finish  the  week. 
Before  he  gets  to  Friday  evening  he  will  be  surprised  at 
what  is  stowed  away  in  four  hundred  and  fourteen  pages. 
It  will  show  him  how  an  artist  with  the  pen,  having 
knowledge  and  fancy,  can  people  an  everyday  stream  with 
shapes  from  the  past,  as  of  the  soldiers  and  farmers  who 
fought  the  first  battle  of  the  Eevolution  at  North  Bridge 
on  this  river,  or  with  classic  phantasies  from  old  world 
myths.  More  interesting  than  either  are  Indian  traditions, 
the  beginnings  of  colonial  life,  and  the  struggle  between 
two  races  for  the  supremacy  of  a  continent.     Here  waa 


Henry  David  Thoreau  341 

the  circle  of  burnt  stones  once  the  centre  of  a  wigwam, 
and  there  the  chips  of  quartz  which  an  arrow-maker  had 
left,  and  yonder  the  grave  of  a  settler  slain  in  his  own 
cabin.  In  the  midst  of  these  tokens  of  border  life  and 
warfare  and  the  story  of  them  are  interspersed  bits  of 
wisdom  from  what  the  author  pretentiously  terms  the 
Bibles  of  the  nations,  from  Homer,  the  Padma-Purana, 
and  the  Bhagavad-gita.  It  is  this  remote  and  foreign  lore 
which  betrays  the  writing  under  a  roof,  while  the  notes  on 
the  river  and  the  weather,  on  fin  and  fur,  might  have 
been  written  for  their  naturalness  and  fidelity  in  the  boat 
itself.  This  was  his  true  sphere  of  observation  and 
thought.  When  he  ventures  into  theology,  even  on  Sun- 
day, he  is  at  disadvantage.  Eeaders  will  prefer  his 
portraiture  of  the  river-men  and  the  farmers  along  the 
banks,  of  the  flat-boat  commerce  upstream  and  down 
before  the  railway  came,  and  of  all  the  shy  life  of  bird 
and  beast  and  man  on  the  margin  of  the  wilderness. 
Here  is  a  sample  from  the  middle  of  the  book  and 
voyage : 

"The  small  houses  which  were  scattered  along  the  river 
at  intervals  of  a  mile  or  more  were  commonly  out  of  sight  to 
us,  but  sometimes,  when  we  rowed  near  the  shore,  we  heard  the 
note  of  a  peevish  hen  or  some  slight  domestic  sound  which 
betrayed  them.  High  in  the  leafy  bank,  surrounded  commonly 
by  a  small  patch  of  corn  or  beans,  squashes  and  melons  and 
some  running  vine  over  the  windows,  they  appeared  like  bee- 
hives set  to  gather  honey  for  a  summer.  I  have  not  read  of 
any  Arcadian  life  which  surpasses  the  actual  luxury  and  serenity 
of  those  New  England  dwellings.  As  you  approach  the  sunny 
doorway  there  is  no  sound  from  these  barracks  of  repose,  and 
you  fear  that  the  gentlest  knock  may  seem  rude  to  the  oriental 
dreamers.'* 


342  American  Literature 

Equally  interesting  is  the  account  of  his  two  years  and 
two  months'  stay  in  the  shanty  by  a  pond,  where  he  also 
wrote  the  bulk  of  "  Walden ;  or,  Life  in  the  Woods."  The 
entire  book  is  the  protest  of  a  single  man  against  what  he 
considers  the  unnecessary  and  self-imposed  burdens  of 
ordinary  life.  Even  of  his  plain  former  townsmen  he 
says: 

*'  How  many  a  poor  immortal  soul  have  I  met  well-nigh 
crushed  and  smothered  under  its  load,  creeping  down  the  road 
of  life,  pushing  before  it  a  barn  75  feet  by  40  and  100  acres  of 
land,  tillage,  mowing,  pasture,  and  wood  lot !  It  is  a  fool's  life, 
as  they  will  find  when  they  get  to  the  end  of  it,  if  not  before." 

Accordingly,  he  attempts  to  show  them  how  to  live  on 
nine  cents  a  day. 

Some  have  not  failed  to  point  out  that  he  did  this  by 
the  direct  or  indirect  assistance  of  those  very  fellow  men 
of  whom  he  pretended  to  be  independent.  Others  have 
suggested  that  if  a  man  chooses  to  live  like  a  woodchuck, 
he  runs  the  risk  of  becomiag  like  that  animal  in  many 
respects.  Probably  the  truth  is,  that  if  he  has  lived  forty 
years  of  his  life  like  other  men,  two  years  of  aboriginal 
existence  will  not  greatly  harm  him  if  he  can  stand  it. 
Especially  if  he  has  books  for  evening  companions  and 
a  pen  to  drive  in  the  hours  spared  him  by  inquisitive 
callers.  Certainly  Thoreau  could  not  have  had  many 
unemployed  days,  to  turn  off  two  volumes  in  two  years 
after  frying  his  potatoes  and  washiug  his  dishes.  It  was 
all  very  interesting  to  him,  and  he  has  made  it  charming 
for  readers  to  follow  his  account  of  it,  if  not  his  example. 

He  could  be  rich  on  ten  cents  a  day  because  he  had 
reduced  his  necessities  to  nine.  He  was  the  modern 
counterpart  of  that  philosopher  who,  witnessing  a  Koman 


Henry  David  Thoreau  343 

triumph,  exclaimed :  "  How  many  things  there  are  which 
I  do  not  want ! " 

After  a  chapter  on  economy  and  shelter  he  says  :  "  Near 
the  end  of  March  1845, 1  borrowed  an  ax  and  went  down 
to  the  woods  by  Walden  Pond  and  began  to  cut  some 
white  pines  for  timber."  He  admits  that  it  is  hard  to 
begin  life  without  borrowing,  but  does  not  mention  that 
the  land  on  which  he  built  was  borrowed  as  well  as  the 
ax  and  the  pine  trees.  The  boards  were  bought  of  an 
Irish  laborer  who  had  worked  on  the  railroad  and  was 
quitting  his  shanty.  After  the  Fom-th  of  July,  by  the 
assistance  of  neighbors  at  a  "raising,"  he  was  able  to 
declare  his  independence  of  society  and  begin  his  Kobinson 
Crusoe  life  fully  a  mile  from  town.  It  was  a  good  ind 
safe  place  to  descant  upon  the  failures  and  foibles  of  com- 
munities, since  he  could  reach  the  store  and  the  postoffice 
by  an  easy  walk.  For  the  Church  he  professed  to  have 
no  need,  and  it  would  not  have  known  what  to  do  with 
him  fifty  years  ago.  A  chapter  on  architecture  is  suggested 
by  his  simple  efforts  in  that  direction,  which  had  resulted 
in  "a  tight  shingled  and  plastered  house,  ten  feet  wide, 
fifteen  feet  long,  and  eight  feet  posts,  with  a  garret  and 
a  closet,  a  large  window  on  each  side,  two  trapdoors, 
one  door  at  the  end,  and  a  brick  fireplace  opposite,"  at 
a  total  cost,  exclusive  of  his  own  labor,  of  twenty-eight 
dollars,  twelve  and  one-half  cents.  Then  follows  the 
account  of  his  daily  fare  at  a  cost  of  twenty-seven  cents  a 
week,  another  study  in  economics  and  dietetics  which  may 
be  commended  to  persons  having  strong  constitutions  and 
a  simple  appetite.  Eice  he  could  devour  in  abundance 
"  because  he  loved  so  well  the  philosophy  of  India,"  but 
it  must  have  been  a  Yankee  taste  that  helped  down  "  rye 


344  American  Literature 

and  Indian  meal  without  yeast,  potatoes,  a  very  little  salt 
pork,  molasses,  salt,  and  my  drink-water." 

It  is  not  improbable  that  the  epidemic  transcendental 
philosophy,  of  which  he  had  an  attack,  was  at  the  bottom 
of  his  hermit  life,  as  it  was  of  the  Brook  Farm  community 
experiment  a  few  miles  away  in  Koxbury.  From  a  few 
kindred  spirits  trying  to  live  in  unity  it  was  but  a  step  to 
a  single  bachelor's  attempt  to  establish  the  new  kingdom 
of  separatism  all  by  himself.  It  was  the  logic  of  the 
forefathers  reduced  to  the  absurd,  and  the  triumph  of 
independency  —  for  twenty-six  months.  Both  experi- 
ments were  failures,  and  a  return  to  common  sense  and 
the  town  followed.  Thoreau  had  succeeded  in  showing 
that  one  can  camp  for  over  two  years  not  far  from  a 
country  store,  and  that  he  himself  could  meet  aU  the 
expenses  of  li\dng  by  working  six  weeks  in  a  year ;  but 
his  greater  success  was  in  telling  of  the  incidental  advan- 
tages and  disadvantages.  Even  his  first  book  did  not  add 
to  his  income,  nearly  the  whole  edition  being  returned 
unsold.  Upon  this  incident  he  wrote  philosophically :  "  I 
have  now  a  library  of  nine  hundred  volumes,  seven  hun- 
dred of  which  I  wrote  myself."  But  his  day  of  recogni- 
tion came  with  the  appreciative  generation  which 
followed  his  own.  He  had  taken  great  pains  to  say  what 
he  knew  in  a  clear  and  entertaining  manner.  Much  time 
was  at  his  command ;  he  was  industrious  and  patient. 
That  was  a  part  of  one-half.  The  other  was  the  indeter- 
minable quantity  of  a  native  talent  which  does  not  always 
go  with  leisure  and  diligence  and  ambition.  The  chapter 
on  "  Eeading  "  in  this  very  book  shows  what  the  writer  of 
it  thought  of  absorption  and  production.  In  that  on 
"  Sounds  "  another  natural  gift  of  observation  is  revealed ; 


Henry  David  Thoreau  345 

in  "  Solitude  "  the  capacity  to  fraternize  with  nature  in  all 
its  manifestations. 

"  There  can  be  no  very  black  melancholy  to  him  who  lives  in 
the  midst  of  nature  and  has  his  senses  still.  While  I  enjoy 
the  friendship  of  the  seasons  I  trust  nothing  can  make  life  a 
burden  to  me.  I  find  it  wholesome  to  be  alone  the  greater  part 
of  the  time.  To  be  in  company,  even  with  the  best,  is  soon 
wearisome  and  dissipating.  "We  are  for  the  most  part  more 
lonely  when  we  go  abroad  among  men  than  when  we  stay  in 
our  chambers.  A  man  thinking  or  working  is  always  alone,  let 
him  be  where  he  will.  The  really  diligent  student  in  one  of  the 
crowded  hives  of  Cambridge  college  is  as  solitary  as  a  dervish  in 
the  desert.  Society  is  commonly  too  cheap.  We  meet  at  very 
short  intervals,  not  having  had  time  to  acquire  any  new  value 
for  each  other.  We  meet  at  meals  three  times  a  day  and  give 
each  other  a  taste  of  that  old  musty  cheese  that  we  are.  Less 
frequency  would  suffice  for  all  important  and  hearty  communi- 
<jations." 

Apart  from  his  theories  of  social  life,  which  are  half- 
truths,  there  are  views  of  animal  and  bird  and  elemental 
life  which  none  will  dispute  and  many  enjoy.  All  his 
books  are  an  education  in  those  things  which  are  near  but 
not  always  clear  to  the  imobservant.  They  are  not  dis- 
cerned because  always  visible.  In  a  double  sense  the 
wood  is  not  seen  for  the  trees.  It  is  the  unusual  tree 
only  that  catches  the  common  eye.  All  the  rest  consti- 
tute the  imiformity  and  blur  of  the  forest. 

This  man's  business  was  to  say  "  Stop  and  see  what  you 
are  stumbling  over  unheeded."  Above  all,  he  calls  atten- 
tion to  unsuspected  relations  between  the  higher  and 
lower  forms  of  nature,  the  sand  leaves  to  foliage,  and  the 
tree  leaf  to  the  palm  of  the  human  hand,  the  hillside  to 
the  face.     Spring  is  an  unceasing  miracle  of  revival  and 


34^  American  Literature 

growth,  winter  of  sleep  and  rest,  and  all  the  year  a  revela- 
tion. But  in  these  obvious  phenomena  he  finds  un- 
observed byplay. 

"  I  heard  the  whooping  of  the  ice  in  the  pond,  my  great  bed- 
fellow, as  if  it  were  restless  and  would  fain  turn  over.  Some- 
times I  heard  the  foxes  barking  as  if  struggling  for  light  and  to 
be  dogs  and  run  freely  in  the  streets ;  for  may  there  not  be 
civilization  going  on  among  brutes  as  well  as  men  ? " 

It  is  this  intimacy  with  the  finer  and  more  distant 
voices  of  nature  which  makes  him  its  skilled  interpreter. 
He  reads  its  cipher  language,  which  is  unintelligible  to 
the  man  of  the  pavement ;  he  finds  a  sign  as  the  Indian 
discovers  a  trail  by  a  broken  twig.  He  sees  every  bird 
or  beast  that  had  gone  over  the  snow  in  the  tracks  it  left. 
And  they  all  were  on  friendly  terms  with  him. 

He  understood  men  as  well,  although  not  fond  of  a 
crowd.  Congenial  companions  were  few  for  a  man  with 
truthful  words  and  blunt  speech  and  a  certain  dominating 
air  of  assumed  superiority  to  conventionalities.  His 
friend  said :  "  I  love  Henry,  but  I  cannot  like  him,  and 
as  for  taking  his  arm  I  would  as  soon  take  the  branch  of 
an  elm  tree." 

Altogether  he  has  made  a  better  impression,  or  at  least 
a  more  pleasing,  by  his  books  than  by  his  life,  sincere  and 
upright,  truthful,  and,  in  a  way,  religious  as  it  was. 
Keaders  will  go  with  him  in  his  "  Excursions  "  who  might 
not  have  enjoyed  his  company.  He  will  take  them  even 
now  as  in  a  guide  book  to  Cape  Cod  and  to  Canada  and 
the  Maine  woods  in  the  volumes  bearing  these  titles. 
And  in  four  others  named  for  the  seasons  he  will  lead 
them  through  unsuspected  phases  of  nature  in  Massachu- 
setts. 


Henry  David  Thoreau  347 

Such  a  man  must  be  a  poet,  and  this  one  wrote  verse, 
but  his  prose  poems  will  be  preferred  bj  most  readers. 
He  himself  confessed : 

**  It  is  no  dream  of  mine 
To  ornament  a  line.'* 

and  the  man  who  has  not  this  ambition  does  best  in  the 
unrhymed,  unmeasured,  but  not  necessarily  unrhythmic 
sentence  of  prose. 

The  following,  from  "  House- Warming,"  is  as  good  as 
his  best: 

"  Light- winged  smoke,  Icarian  bird, 
Melting  thy  pinions  in  thy  upward  flight, 
Lark  without  song  and  messenger  of  dawn 
Circling  above  the  hamlets  is  thy  nest ; 
By  night  star- veiling  and  by  day 
Darkening  the  light  and  blotting  out  the  sun, 
Go  thou,  my  incense,  upward  from  this  hearth, 
And  ask  the  gods  to  pardon  this  clear  flame." 

This  is  in  the  midst  of  an  instructive  paragraph  on  the 
best  kinds  of  firewood.  It  is  like  all  the  rest  of  his 
writing,  a  singular  mixture  of  common  sense  and  poetic 
imagination,  with  a  keen  appreciation  of  truth  and  beauty 
and  of  the  mystery  hidden  by  the  highways  or  in  the 
byways  of  nature. 


XXX 

WALT  WHITMAN 

If  Thoreau  was  eccentric  in  his  aboriginal  experiments, 
Walt  Whitman  earned  a  similar  distinction  by  his  dis- 
regard of  literary  conventionalities.  Interest  in  either  de- 
partm'e  from  customary  forms  may  be  sympathetic  or 
otherwise,  and  in  the  instance  of  books  which  have  an 
attractive  or  repellent  character  doughty  defenders  and 
strenuous  remonstrants  will  spring  up,  with  many  neutrals 
or  indifferents  between.  That  this  has  been  Whitman's 
fortune  is  notorious.  Seldom  has  a  writer  won  such 
adulation  or  provoked  such  scorn.  With  these  has  gone  a 
corresponding  contempt  of  each  extreme  party  in  the  con- 
troversy for  the  other  and  consequent  imputation  of  igno- 
rance, want  of  taste,  and  lack  of  appreciation  for  what  is 
best  and  truest,  according  to  the  standards  of  each. 

Whitman  was  born  at  West  Hills,  Long  Island,  in  1819, 
the  year  that  steamers  ventured  across  the  Atlantic. 
Literary  Byrou  was  Sending  out  "  Don  Juan  "  and  "  Ma- 
independence.  ^^^^^  „  ^^^^  ^  America  the  "  Bucktail  Bards  " 

appeared ;  also  the  "  Sketch-Book,"  a  more  hopeful  sign. 
"Walt,  —  for  so  he  chose  to  be  called  in  distinction  from 
his  father,  Walter  the  carpenter,  —  went  to  school,  shoved 
a  plane,  set  type,  taught  urchins,  edited  newspapers, 
tramped  westward,  served  in  many  hospitals  and  later  in 
government  departments.  When  young  he  wrote  verses 
in  the  rhymes  and  metres  that  other  youthful  poets  had 

348 


Walt  Whitman  349 

employed,  with  the  lack  of  applause  which  befalls  those 
who  treat  commonplace  topics  lq  a  hackneyed  manner. 
At  length  it  occurred  to  him  to  shuffle  off  what  Emerson 
called  "  the  coU  of  rhythm  and  number  "  and  practise  an 
untrammelled  style  suited  to  the  largeness  and  freedom  of 
the  nation.  Other  writers  had  felt  the  inspirations  of 
democracy  and  had  protested  against  bondage  to  foreign 
masters ;  but  this  man  cried  out  against  aU  precedents  and 
broke  forth : 

"  From  this  hour  freedom! 
From  this  hour  I  ordain  myself  loosed  from  limits  and  imaginary 

lines, 
Gently,  but  with  undeniable  will  divesting  myself  of  the  holds 
that  would  hold  me.'* 

This  declaration  of  independence  was  carried  out  in  the 
construction  of  his  verse  and  in  its  subject-matter.  Ehyme 
was  discarded  as  an  artificiality.  In  this,  however,  as 
every  one  knows,  he  was  not  without  exemplars  in  English 
poetry  from  "  Beowulf  "  to  "  Ossian,"  and  from  "  Paradise 
Lost "  to  the  "  Proverbial  Philosophy  "  of  Tupper.  More- 
over, had  not  Milton  said :  "  The  neglect  of  rhime,  so  little 
is  it  to  be  taken  for  a  defect,  tho'  it  may  seem  so  perhaps 
to  vulgar  readers,  that  it  is  rather  to  be  esteemed  an  ex- 
ample of  ancifent  liberty,  recovered  from  the  troublesome 
and  modern  bondage  of  rhiming."  This  certainly  was  an 
authority  eminent  enough  for  James  Ealph,  Franklin's 
crony,  to  follow  in  poems  which  Pope  immortalized  in 
"  The  Dunciad ; "  and  there  are  other  and  better  names 
to  which  Whitman  might  have  appealed,  Cotton  Mather 
among  the  rest,  as  defenders  of  rhymeless  lines.  It  must 
be  left  to  an  obscure  versifier  like  James  Branston  to  cham- 
pion the   other   side   for   Milton's  "vulgar  readers"  in 


3S^  American  Literature 

lines  on  the  "  Man  of  Taste,"  if  he  did  not  justify  it  by  a 
shining  example : 

"  Verse  without  rhyme  I  could  never  endure, 
Uncouth  in  numbers,  and  in  sense  obscure. 
Rhyme  is  the  poet's  pride  and  people's  choice, 
Confirmed  and  settled  by  the  nation's  voice." 

Still,  some  better  poets  have  employed  rhyme  advan- 
tageously, also  metre.  In  discarding  this,  Whitman  had 
not  so  many  precedents,  but  these  were  of  not  much  ac-' 
count  to  him.  It  was  an  affectation  like  alliteration,  he 
thought,  to  carry  the  wave-law  into  poetry,  which  should 
be  a  thing  larger  and  freer  than  words  cut  to  measure  and 
set  to  accent  and  time.  If  it  were  rhythmical,  he  was 
satisfied,  and  sometimes  this  bottle  was  too  old  to  hold  his 
new  wine.  Then  he  would  say  what  he  pleased  as  he 
pleased,  and  trust  to  his  ideas  and  his  fervor  to  furnish  the 
poetic  element.  Here,  of  course,  is  the  ground  of  contro- 
versy among  literary  critics,  each  one  of  whom  may  have 
a  separate  definition  of  poetry  and  its  limits.  Where  is 
the  dividing  line  between  rhythmical  prose  —  like  some 
of  Euskin's,  Newman's,  and  Burke's,  or  some  of  Dickens' 
metrical  sentences  — and  verses  having  rhythm  with  irreg- 
ular length  ?  Possibly  the  boundaries  should  be  extended 
to  include  whatever  is  poetic  in  feeling  and  idea,  regard- 
less of  form.  This  is  what  Whitman  would  have  de- 
manded as  the  test  to  be  applied  to  his  own  verse,  and  an 
increasing  number  of  admirers  are  willing  to  accede  to 
his  claim.     One  of  these  goes  so  far  as  to  say: 

"  Whitman  is  the  Wagner  of  poets.  As  Wagner  abandoned 
the  cadences  of  the  old  sonatas  and  symphonies,  so  Whitman  has 
abandoned  the  measured  beat  of  the  old  rhymed  see-saw  poetry. 
With  him  poetry  has  become  an  instrument  breathing  music  in 


Walt  Whitman  351 

80  vast  a  key  that  the  solitary  wheelings  and  solemn  pomp  of 
Milton's  verse  seem  rather  formal  and  mechanical.  In  the 
matter  of  orchestral  word-music  Whitman,  in  his  rhythmic  chants 
does  at  any  rate  more  than  any  mortal  has  yet  accomplished." 

He  does  it  in  this  way  in  one  of  his  "  Chants  Demo- 
cratic," the  fourteenth  —  a  fair  sample  of  the  series : 

1.  "  Poets  to  come  ! 

Not  to-day  is  to  justify  me,  and  Democracy,  and  what  we  are  for, 
But  you,  a  new  brood,  native,  athletic,  continental,  greater  than 

before  known. 
You  must  justify  me. 

4.  "Of  to-day  I  know  I   am  momentary,  untouched  —  I  am   the 

bard  of  the  future, 
I  but  write  one  or  two  indicative  words  of  the  future, 
I  but  advance  a  moment,  only  to  wheel  and  hurry  back  in  the 

darkness." 

And  in  the  chant  «  Walt  Whitman  " : 

**  I  am  the  poet  of  the  Body  ; 
And  I  am  poet  of  the  Soul." 

"  The  pleasures  of  heaven  are  with  me,  and  the  pains  of  hell  are  with 
me  ; 
The  first  I  graft  and  increase  upon  myself —  the  latter  I  translate 
into  a  new  tongue." 

But  five  years  later  comes  a  contrasting  strain : 

"  As  I  weud  to  the  shores  I  know  not, 
As  I  list  to  the  dirge,  the  voices  of  men  and  women  wreck'd, 
As  I  inhale  the  impalpable  breezes  that  set  in  upon  me, 
As  the  ocean  so  mysterious  rolls  toward  me  closer  and  closer, 
I,  too,  but  signify,  at  the  utmost,  a  little  wash'd  up  drift, 
A  few  sands  and  dead  leaves  to  gather. 
Gather,  and  merge  myself  as  part  of  the  sands  and  drift." 

In  the  midst  of  rhythmic  verses  a  prosy  thought  some- 
times strikes  him,  or  one  too  complicated  for  an  ordinary 
line,  or  below  the  dignified  level  of  the  context.     Then 


3S^  American  Literature 

down  it  goes  in  a  prose  sentence  after  the  manner  of 
Elizabethan  poets  when  they  had  anything  common  or 
unclean  to  introduce  into  better  company ;  but  with  this 
difference  that  to  Whitman  one  style  and  one  thing  is  as 
good  as  another : 

**  And  I  will  thread  a  thread  through  my  poems  that  no  one  thing 
in  the  universe  is  inferior  to  another  thing, 
And  that  all  things  of  the  universe  are  perfect  miracles,  each  as 
profound  as.  any." 

Accordingly  it  is  to  be  expected,  on  his  own  theory  of 
verse  and  the  universe,  that  he  should  sometimes  flat  in  a 
prosy  sentiment  and  sentence  and  add : 

"  And  that  I  grew  six  feet  high,  and  that  I  have  become  a  man 
thirty-six  years  old  in  the  year  79  of  America  —  and  that  I 
am  here  anyhow  —  all  are  equally  wonderful." 

Still  more  wonderful  it  is  when  he  goes  into  details 

about  himself  as  representing  democracy  and  mankind. 

In  more  senses  than  to  the  Roman  poet  nothing 

vXt?'*  ^       human  was  alien  to  Walt  Whitman.     The  in- 

Humanity.  .      ■,  ■,  ,.      .        ,  -  .       , 

evitable  naturalistic  element  of  course  raised  a 
dust  of  criticism  greater  even  than  that  stirred  up  by  his 
poetic  style,  but  there  is  no  need  to  disturb  it  afresh.  People 
are  learning  to  look  through  the  cloud  to  find  elemental 
virtues  which  it  is  apt  to  obscure. 

The  first  of  these  is  his  sympathy  with  his  fellow  men 
—  the  aristocrat,  however,  least  of  all  —  in  his  lifetime. 
But  by  a  singular  irony  of  literary  fate  this  is  the  class 
which  discovered  the  good  points  that  were  not  revealed 
to  the  commonalty  with  whom  he  loved  to  rub  elbows.  For 
the  masses  he  had  a  genuine  liking,  for  the  roughest  and 
grimiest  of  them,  with  all  their  common  ambitions  and 


UNIVERSITY 

or 
Walt  Whitih^fiiyroRJi^^    ^^3 

interests,  pleasures  and  appetites,  and  he  is  never  tired  of 
saying : 

**  I  am  in  love  with  you;  and  with  all  my  fellows  upon  the  earth. 

0  you  robust,  sacred ! 

1  cannot  tell  you  how  I  love  you; 

All  I  love  America  for,  is  contained  in  men  and  women  like  you." 

And  then,  lest  any  should  be  excluded,  he  specifies  the 
men  and  women  of  all  trades  and  occupations  in  all  the 
States  and  Canada,  even  "in  China,  Kussia,  or  India — 
talking  other  dialects  " : 

"And  it  seems  to  me  if  I  could  know  those  men,  I  should  become 
attached  to  them,  as  I  do  to  men  in  my  own  lands." 

That  this  was  not  altogether  sentiment  may  be  shown 
by  his  hospital  service  during  the  war  for  ten  thousand 
sick  and  wounded  soldiers,  through  devotion  to  whom  he 
lost  his  splendid  vigor  of  health  and  strength  and  became 
an  invalid  for  the  remaining  twenty  years  of  his  life,  but 
without  repining  or  complaint.  And  for  an  everyday 
sympathy  and  companionship  in  ordinary  life  the  plain 
record  of  it  tallies  fairly  with  its  poetic  counterpart,  of 
which  this  is  an  example : 

"  To  any  one  dying,  thither  I  speed  and  twist  the  knob  of  the  door. 

I  seize  the  descending  man  and  raise  him  with  resistless  will, 

0  despairer,  here  is  my  neck, 

You  shall  not  go  down !  hang  your  whole  weight  upon  me. 

1  dilate  you  with  tremendous  breath,  I  buoy  you  up, 
Every  room  of  the  house  do  I  fill  with  an  arm'd  force, 
Lovers  of  me,  bafflers  of  graves." 

This  "any  one"  might  be  any  man  in  the  throng  as 
much  as  a  particular  friend,  a  disposition  which  suggests 
mention  of  a  second  quality  in  his  verse,  which  may  be 

23 


354  American  Literature 

termed  the  comprehensiveness  of  his  interest,  whose  most 
apparent  expression  is  his  Americanism,  and  its  best 
phase,  patriotism.  After  his  comrade,  "  These  States,"  as 
jjjg  one  nation,  are  the  subject  of  his  nobler  song. 

Americanism,  jj-g  European  admirers  must  gulp  large  doses 
of  republicanism  with  elements  which  they  relish  better. 
But  Whitman  was  not  a  man  to  sweeten  medicine  to  any 
one's  taste  or  to  lower  his  voice  in  distinguished  company. 
"  I  sound  my  yawp  over  the  roofs  of  the  world,"  and  it 
was  never  so  loud  and  far-carrying  as  when  the  land  he 
loved  was  in  his  thoughts.  In  his  "Native  American 
Chants  "  after  three  pages  of  apostrophe  he  announces : 

"  What  We  Are  —  nativity  is  answer  enough  to  objections ; 
We  wield  ourselves  as  a  weapon  is  wielded, 
Ages,  precedents,  poems,  have  long  been  accumulating  undirected 

materials, 
America  brings  builders,  and  brings  its  own  styles. 
Stands  removed,  spacious,  composite,  sound. 
Here  is  not  merely  a  nation,  but  a  teeming  nation  of  nations." 

Nor  is  he  far  from  a  great  and  vital  truth  when  he 
resolves  the  vastness  of  territory  and  population  into  its 
atoms  and  makes  the  virtue  of  the  individual  the  salt  of 
the  earth : 

"  It  is  not  the  earth,  it  is  not  America,  who  is  so  great. 
It  is  I  who  am  great,  or  to  be  great — it  is  you,  or  any  one. 

this  America  is  only  you  and  me. 

Its  power,  weapons,  testimony,  are  you  and  me. 
The  Many  In  One  —  what  is  it  finally  except  myself  ? 
These  States  —  what  are  they  except  myself  ? " 

His  making  himself  the  representative  of  humanity  and 
democracy  has  sometimes  been  mistaken  for  egotism,  not 
without  reason,  however,  since  modesty  was  not  one  of  his 
literary  characteristics.    But  there  are  places  where  he  is 


Walt  Whitman  355 

the  personal  Walt,  and  others  where  he  is  the  impersonal 
man. 

There  are  other  qualities  in  this  diversely  interpreted 
poet  which  can  best  be  accounted  for  by  saying  that  he 
was  oriental  in  temperament  and  occidental  in  j^^^ 
manner.  Both  phases  crop  out  in  his  verse.  '***""• 
In  its  form  there  is  an  adaptation  of  the  line  to  the  com- 
plexity of  the  thought,  as  in  an  Arabian  improvisation  or 
a  Hebrew  psalm,  with  similar  lack  of  metre  and  rhyme, 
—  chants,  as  Whitman  calls  his  irregular  verses.  Incorpo- 
rated with  them  is  an  Eastern  disposition,  with  a  corre- 
sponding imrestraint  of  imagination  and  language.  On  the 
other  side  and  often  alternating  with  such  lines,  springs 
up  a  positive  and  aggressive  Western  temper,  outspoken, 
audacious,  and  arrogant ;  but  also  frank,  honest,  and  kindly, 
open-hearted  and  full  of  faith  in  men,  the  native  land,  and 
the  future  of  both.  This  dual  nature  thus  becomes  the  most 
reasonable  ground  of  his  assertion  that  he  is  a  cosmic  poet 
with  sympathies  wide  enough  to  embrace  the  world : 

"  I  am  the  chanter  —  I  chant  aloud  over  the  pageant ; 
I  chant  the  world  on  my  Western  Sea." 

It  is  easier  to  understand  some  phases  of  his  poetry  on 
this  hypothesis,  especially  if  it  be  joined  with  another  to  the 
effect  that  he  may  have  been  a  sort  of  reversion  ^  primitive 
to  a  primitive  type,  unfettered  by  restraints  '^^^^' 
essential  to  conditions  of  civilized  life  and  high  art  in  both 
ancient  and  modern  times.  Of  course  the  question  will 
arise  as  to  how  far  a  return  to  prehistoric  freedom  from 
conventions  is  a  step  toward  intellectual  liberty  and  the 
best  taste ;  and  there  will  be  reluctance  in  some  quarters 
to  accept  as  high  art  performances  much  removed  from 


3S^  American  Literature 

conceptions  of  it  that  have  hitherto  prevailed.  The  maxim 
that  true  art  is  an  improvement  upon  nature  has  been  too 
long  current  to  be  slighted,  and  nature  as  raw  material 
without  artistic  treatment  is  not  at  present  in  great 
demand.  It  may  be  the  fault  of  present  conditions  in 
society  as  opposed  to  the  pristiue  simplicity  of  the  stone 
age,  but  a  return  to  it  cannot  be  expected  to  take  place 
speedily.  At  the  same  time  any  protest  against  tendencies 
to  over-refinement,  artificiality,  and  dilettantism  in  art  or 
life  may  be  welcomed  as  a  beckoning  back  toward  the 
stiKdy  and  primeval  elements  from  which  prosperity  is  apt 
to  warp  a  people.  The  danger  in  such  a  look  backward 
from  the  present,  or  even  too  far  forward  into  a  hopeful 
future,  is  that  it  fall  into  artificialities  and  mannerisms  of 
its  own  in  the  attempt  to  accomplish  too  much. 

It  must  be  accorded  to  "Whitman  that  he  outgrew  some 
of  his  early  faults  as  years  and  their  discipline  wrought 
Improvement  ^^®  customary  chaugcs.  His  later  work  has 
with  Age.  fewer  discordant  notes,  and  his  best  inspirations 
involuntarily  approach  the  conventional  forms  into  which 
contemporaneous  poetry  fell,  although  his  deliberate  pur- 
pose succeeded  in  debarring  rhyme  to  the  end  of  his  days. 
But  the  tone  of  the  aggregate  later  verse  is  higher,  and 
he  emphasizes  the  things  that  are  important,  and  does  not 
so  often  make  accidents  of  equal  value  with  essentials. 
In  his  final  arrangement  of  forty  years'  work  he  seems  to 
have  tried  to  keep  up  the  confusion  by  interlarding  verses 
written  in  the  fifties  and  before  with  poems  in  a  higher 
strain  composed  in  the  next  decade ;  but  these  last  do  not 
need  the  appended  dates  to  label  them  as  the  product  of 
his  autumnal  years  and  ripened  judgment.  Beginning  in 
1860  with  the  sympathetic  idyl  of  "Out  of  the  Cradle 


Walt  Whitman  357 

Endlessly  Eocking"  with  its  premonitory  note  of  death 
and  destination,  the  "  Sea-Shore  Memories  "  follow  like  one 
sad  wave  after  another  out  of  the  infinite  and  unknown, 
breaking  upon  the  familiar  shore  and  ending  in  1872  with 
the  "  Mystic  Trumpeter."  Between  are  "  Elemental  Drifts," 
«  Tears,"  "  On  the  Beach  at  Night,"  the  elegy  "  Brother  of 
All,"  "  Finale  to  the  Shore,"  his  Commencement  poem  at 
Dartmouth  College — "  As  a  Strong  Bird  on  Pinions  Free," 
"  0  Star  of  France,"  q^d  "  One  Song,  America,  Before  I  Go," 

"  I  'd  sing  o'er  all  the  rest,  with  trumpet  sound, 
For  thee  —  the  Future." 

And  among  the  last,  "  Whispers  of  Heavenly  Death," 
«  Darest  Thou  Now,  0  Soul,"  and  "  The  Last  Invocation  " : 

"  At  the  last,  tenderly, 
From  the  walls  of  the  powerful,  fortressed  house, 
From  the  clasp  of  knitted  locks  —  from  the  keep  of  the  well- 
Let  me  be  wafted."  ^closed  doors, 

**  Pensive  and  faltering, 

The  words,  the  dead,  I  write ; 
For  living  are  the  Dead; 
(Haply  the  only  living,  only  real. 
And  I  the  apparition  — I  the  spectre)." 

To  do  Whitman  justice  his  poems  should  be  read  in 
reverse  order  of  their  composition.  The  first  emotion  will 
not  then  be  productive  of  derision  or  disgust ;  and  by  the 
time  the  early  work  is  reached,  the  volume  may  be  laid 
aside  as  no  longer  interesting.  But  his  best  need  not  be 
lost  through  infelicities  in  the  poorest.  For  the  immature 
judicious  selections  might  be  made,  such  as  Englishmen 
compiled  and  thus  became  endorsers  and  admirers,  calling 
his  countrymen  back  to  take  a  second  look  at  the  poet 
they  were  summarily  rejecting.    When  they  read  "  Ashes 


35^  American  Literature 

of  Soldiers,"   "In  Midnight  Sleep,"   "Camps  of   Green," 

"Pensive  on  Her  Dead  Gazing,"    "President    Lincoln's 

Burial  Hymn,"  and  "  My  Captain,  0  My  Captain,"  they 

who  lived  and  fought  and  sorrowed  in  that  stormy  time 

confessed  that  it  had  found  a  voice  full  of  sympathy  and 

faith  and  hope  for  the  land  which  had  been  kept  in  all 

its  vast  integrity  at  great  cost.     Such  a  bard  was  not  to  be 

forced  out  of  the  tuneful  company  which  commemorated 

the  heroic  dead.     Nor  one  who  could  write  a  world-wide 

poem  like  this : 

"  Hark  !  some  wild  trumpeter  —  some  strange  musician, 

Hovering  unseen  in  air,  vibrates  capricious  tunes  to-night. 

*  Blow,  trumpeter,  free  and  clear  —  I  follow  thee, 

While  at  thy  liquid  prelude,  glad,  serene, 

The  fretting  world,  the  streets,  the  noisy  hours  of  day,  withdraw ; 

A  holy  calm  descends,  like  dew,  upon  me, 

I  walk,  in  cool  refreshing  night,  the  walks  of  Paradise, 

I  scent  the  grass,  the  moist  air,  and  the  roses. 

"  0  trumpeter  !  methinks  I  am  myself  the  instrument  thou  playest ! 
Thou  melt'st  my  heart,  my  brain  —  thou  movest,  drawest,  cliangest 

them,  at  will : 
And  now  thy  sullen  notes  send  darkness  through  me  ; 
Thou  takest  away  all  cheering  light  —  all  hope  : 
I  see  the  enslaved,  the  overthrown,  the  hurt,  the  opprest  of  the  whole 

earth ; 
I  feel  the  measureless  shame  and   humiliation  of  my  race  —  it 

becomes  all  mine  ; 
Mine  too  the  revenges  of  humanity  —  the  wrongs  of  ages  —  baffled 

feuds  and  hatreds ; 
Utter  defeat  upon  me  weighs  —  all  lost !  the  foe  victorious  ! 
(Yet  'mid  the  ruins  Pride  colossal  stands,  unshaken  to  the  last ; 
Endurance,  resolution  to  the  last.) 

"  Now,  trumpeter,  for  thy  close, 

Vouchsafe  a  higher  strain  than  any  yet  ; 

Sing  to  my  soul  —  renew  its  languishing  faith  and  hope  ; 

Rouse  up  my  slow  belief  —  give  me  some  vision  of  the  future  ; 

Give  me,  for  once,  its  prophecy  and  joy." 


Walt  Whitman  359 

It  may  be  that,  as  he  asserted,  he  will  be  more  and 
more  a  poet  for  the  future.  Indications  are  not  wanting 
that  his  readers  are  multiplying,  with  appreciation  for 
his  best  thought  and  expression,  and  amusement  rather 
than  horror  at  the  poor  taste  in  places  as  of  a  pre- Adamite 
man.  In  their  diversity  of  phases  his  poems  will  find  a 
corresponding  diversity  of  readers,  and  there  will  be  few 
who  can  find  nothing  for  themselves  amid  so  much 
variety. 

In  closing  the  list  of  greater  poets,  mention  at  least 
should  be  made  of  others  who  have  kept  within  time- 
honored  bounds  and  have  also  written  excellent  verse, 
notably  Stedman  and  Stoddard  and  Sill  in  the  North ; 
Lanier,  Timrod,  and  Hayne  in  the  South.  To  recall  their 
names  is  sufficient  for  those  who  know  the  merits  of  each. 
Others  by  reading  their  poems  will  see  why  their  work  is 
loved  and  their  names  are  honored  throughout  the  land. 


XXXI 

SPAKKS,  BANCROFT,  HILDRETH,  PRESCOTT 

Among  the  American  writers  of  the  nineteenth  century 
no  group  won  greater  distinction  than  the  historians. 
This  is  true  of  them  not  only  as  faithful  and  impartial 
recorders  of  what  has  taken  place,  but  also  as  makers  of 
literature.  The  gradual  growth  toward  such  achievement 
from  the  diaries  and  annals  of  colony  times  had  culmi- 
nated in  the  "  History  of  the  Province  of  Massachusetts 
Bay,"  by  Hutchinson,  the  last  of  its  governors.  With  the 
new  nation  and  the  nineteenth  century  a  new  historical 
method  appeared.  Its  pioneer  was  Jared  Sparks,  a  man 
whose  usefulness  and  ability  are  in  danger  of  being  over- 
looked amid  the  greater  accomplishments  which  dis- 
tinguished his  successors. 

His  upward  career  is  illustrative  of  the  enterprising 
times  in  which  he  Jived.  A  Connecticut  farmer  boy  of 
twelve  at  the  incoming  of  the  century,  he 
became  a  miller,  schoolmaster,  college  tutor, 
editor  of  the  "  North  American  Eeview,"  Unitarian  minis- 
ter, chaplain  of  the  House  of  Eepresentatives,  professor  of 
history,  and  finally  president  of  Harvard.  On  his  way 
to  this  eminence,  and  while  writing  controversial  and 
biographical  essays,  he  had  in  view  a  plan  to  publish  the 
writings  of  George  Washington,  including  his  correspond- 
ence, addresses,  messages,  and  other  papers,  adding  an 
account  of  his  life.     It  was  the  first  systematic  attempt 

360 


Sparks,  Bancroft,  Hildreth,  Prescott     361 

here  to  present  in  a  readable  form  the  original  sources  of 
history.  They  were  already  beginning  to  be  scattered 
far  and  wide,  so  far  as  his  subject  was  concerned.  Some 
of  the  most  valuable  were  jealously  guarded  by  their 
possessors.  Long  journeys  had  to  be  made  in  this  coun- 
try and  diligent  research  pursued  in  other  lands.  Despite 
innumerable  difficulties  and  hindrances,  he  brought  out  a 
monumental  work  in  twelve  volumes  between  1834  and 
1837.  Meantime  he  edited  the  "  Diplomatic  Correspond- 
ence of  the  American  Eevolution "  and  "  The  Life  of 
Gouverneur  Morris."  Also  he  was  the  editor  of  twenty- 
five  volumes  of  the  "Library  of  American  Biography," 
writing  several  of  the  lives  himself.  Later  he  published 
the  "  Works  of  Benjamin  Franklin  "  in  ten  volumes,  and 
finally  four  volumes  of  the  "Correspondence  of  the 
American  Eevolution." 

As  the  earliest  biographer  of  Washington,  —  antici- 
pating Paulding  by  a  year  and  the  recent  method  of 
documentary  biography  by  many  years,  —  his  estimate 
of  his  subject's  character  is  worth  comparing  with  later 
reproductions  of  the  critical  method.  After  noticing  his 
external  appearance  he  says : 

**  The  character  of  his  mind  was  unfolded  in  the  public  and 
private  acts  of  his  Hfe ;  and  the  proofs  of  his  greatness  are  seen 
almost  as  much  in  the  one  as  in  the  other.  The  same  qualities 
which  raised  him  to  the  ascendency  he  possessed  over  the  will 
of  a  nation  as  the  commander  of  armies  and  chief  magistrate, 
caused  him  to  be  loved  and  respected  as  an  individual.  Wis- 
dom, judgment,  prudence,  and  firmness  were  his  predominant 
traits.  No  man  ever  saw  more  clearly  the  relative  importance 
of  things  and  actions,  or  divested  himself  more  entirely  of  the 
bias  of  personal  interest,  partiality,  and  prejudice  in  discriminat- 
ing between  the  true  and  the  false,  the  right  and  the  wrong  in 


362  American  Literature 

all  questions  presented  to  him.  He  deliberated  slowly  but 
decided  surely;  and  when  his  decision  was  once  formed,  he 
seldom  reversed  it,  and  never  relaxed  from  the  execution  of  a 
measure  till  it  was  completed.  Courage,  physical  and  moral, 
was  a  part  of  his  nature ;  and  whether  in  battle  or  in  the  midst 
of  popular  excitement,  he  was  fearless  of  danger  and  regardless 
of  consequences  to  himself. 

"  His  ambition  was  of  that  noble  kind  which  aims  to  excel  in 
whatever  it  undertakes,  and  to  acquire  a  power  over  the  hearts 
of  men  by  promoting  their  happiness  and  winning  their  affec- 
tions. Sensitive  to  the  approbation  of  others  and  solicitous  to 
deserve  it,  he  made  no  concessions  to  gain  their  applause  either 
by  flattering  their  vanity  or  yielding  to  their  caprices.  Cautious 
without  timidity,  bold  without  rashness,  cool  in  counsel,  delib- 
erate but  firm  in  action,  clear  in  foresight,  patient  under  reverses, 
steady,  persevering,  and  self-possessed,  he  met  and  conquered 
every  obstacle  that  obstructed  his  path  to  honor,  renown,  and 
success." 

To  this  fragment  might  be  added  what  Sparks  says  of 
his  moral  and  religious  traits,  summing  up  all  in  the 
assertion  that  it  was  "the  happy  combination  of  rare 
talents  and  qualities,  the  harmonious  union  of  the  intel- 
lectual and  moral  powers,  rather  than  the  dazzling 
splendor  of  any  one  trait,  which  constituted  the  grandeur 
of  his  character. 

It  would  not  be  just  to  require  of  this  earliest  historian 

all  the  excellencies  of  the  men  who  availed  themselves  of 

his  preliminary  labors  and  started  where  he 

His  Methods.     ,,,.  ,.  ,  -,. 

dropped  his  pen.  It  is  enough  to  say  for  him 
that  in  the  departments  which  fell  to  him  as  explorer  he 
was  thorough,  and  that  his  judgment  of  what  to  keep 
and  what  to  reject  was  good.  Better  even  for  himself 
and  his  successors  was  the  habit  of  orderly  arranging  his 
collected  material.    His  method  and  system  were  instinc- 


Sparks,  Bancroft,  Hildreth,  Prescott     36;^ 

tive.  From  his  youth  he  was  exact  with  a  mathematical 
precision,  accumulating  notebooks,  journals,  and  letter 
files.  Order  was  the  first  of  his  rules  of  labor  after 
investigation,  and  was  largely  the  secret  of  his  accom- 
plishing so  much.  He  lost  no  time  in  a  second  search 
for  a  fact  once  discovered. 

Looking  backward  to  the  period  of  historical  beginning, 
this  writer  appears  as  the  rescuer  of  materials  which 
were  ready  to  perish.  He  also  furnished  an  example  of 
simple  and  clear  treatment  of  documents  written  by 
many  hands  with  every  diversity  of  motive  and  style.  If 
he  saw  graces  where  others  have  seen  defects  it  may  be 
to  his  credit.  Besides,  the  critical  method  in  historical 
composition  was  not  yet  in  full  force.  It  is  enough  for 
one  man  to  collect  material  and  to  lay  foundations. 
These  labors  are  sometimes  forgotten  when  the  super- 
structure is  built  and  adorned. 

George  Bancroft  was  Sparks*  immediate  successor  in  the 
field  of  American  history,  and  the  first  historian  of  the 
period  to  cover  the  entire  ground  of  colonial  George 
affairs  and  the  beginning  of  the  nation  down  ^^*=*"°^- 
to  1789.     For  this  undertaking  he  had  made  admirable 
preparation.      Graduating   from    Harvard    in    1816,   he 
spent  five  years  in  Germany  and  France  in  the  study  of 
European  literatures,  philosophy,  and  history  under  the 
foremost  scholars  of  the  age.     Wolf  and  Hegel,  Bunsen 
and  Niebuhr,  Cousin  and  Constant  were  among  his  in- 
structors.    After  varied  studies  he  determined  to  make 
the   early  history  of  his   own  country   the  study  of   a 
lifetime.      He  brought  to  the  investigation  a  wealth  of 
learning  and  a  knowledge  of  methods  which  placed  him  ^ 
far  in  advance  of  all  the  annalists  and  chroniclers  and 


3^4  American  Literature 

historians  who  had  preceded  him.  A  philosophical 
historian  had  sprung  up  with  the  new  movement  in 
letters  who  would  link  events  with  their  causes  and  find 
these  in  remote  places  and  times. 

Before  he  settled  down  to  this  main  work  of  his  life 
he  undertook  something  in  the  line  of  education  which 
The  Round  "^^^  remarkable  enough  to  merit  passing  notice. 
Hill  School.  ^iiQY  a  year  in  Harvard  as  instructor  he  es- 
tablished a  school  on  Eound  Hill  in  Northampton,  in 
connection  with  Dr.  Cogswell,  somewhat  after  the  model 
of  the  German  gymnasia.  Foreign  teachers  were  em- 
ployed and  commodious  houses  were  built  on  one  of  the 
most  delightful  sites  in  the  region.  Students  came  from 
far  and  near.  For  seven  years,  from  1823  to  1830,  the 
school  continued  to  give  the  best  and  broadest  prepara- 
tion for  college.  Gymnastic  exercises  were  maintained 
long  before  they  were  introduced  in  other  schools  and 
colleges.  But  the  Eound  Hill  School  was  in  advance  of 
its  age  and  could  furnish  a  better  preparatory  course  than 
the  average  student  needed  in  order  to  enter  the  colleges 
of  that  day.  For  this  reason  and  others  it  was  discon- 
tinued. When  one  sees  the  colleges  and  fitting  schools 
which  have  since  sprung  up  around  the  base  of  the  hill 
or  within  sight  from  its  summit,  the  thought  is  sug- 
gested that  the  good  seed  sown  there  by  the  first  of 
American  historians  may  have  sprung  up  to  an  abun- 
dant harvest. 

It  was  while  he  was  one  of  the  principals  of  this  school 

that  Bancroft  began  his  "  History  of  the  United 

the  u*iSted°     Statcs  "  by  collecting  materials  for  subsequent 

writing.     In  1834  the  first  volume  appeared. 

The  next  year  he  removed  to  Springfield  for  a  stay  of 


Sparks,  Bancroft,  Hildreth,  Prescott     365 

three  years,  in  which  he  finished  the  second  volume, 
when  he  was  appointed  collector  of  the  port  of  Boston. 
The  third  volume  was  issued  in  1840.  •  Then  followed 
a  period  of  research  in  New  York,  while  Massachusetts 
democracy  was  trying  to  elect  him  governor,  as  the  party 
had  before  elected  him  representative  to  the  general  court, 
a  position  which  he  declined.  In  1845  he  was  appointed 
secretary  of  the  navy.  Here,  again,  his  interest  in  educa- 
tion resulted  in  the  establishment  of  a  naval  school  at 
Annapolis  to  correspond  to  the  military  school  at  West 
Point.  The  next  year  found  him  minister  plenipotentiary 
at  the  court  of  St.  James,  a  position  which  enabled  him 
to  pursue  his  investigations  in  American  history.  The 
results  appeared  after  his  return  home,  when  in  1852  the 
fifth  and  sixth  volumes  appeared,  another  two  years  later, 
and  the  final  volume  in  1858. 

The  entire  work  was  an  achievement  of  which  the 
nation  was  justly  proud.  It  was  not  only  broadly 
national  and  unprovincial,  but  world-wide  in  its  scope, 
dealing  with  European  questions  in  their  relation  to  a 
people  gathered  from  every  quarter  of  the  old  world.  A 
man  of  narrower  education  could  not  have  written  such 
a  history.  He  traced  causes  and  connecting  lines  across 
the  ocean  which  colonial  predecessors  had  turned  up  to 
the  clouds  and  called  them  special  and  wonderful  dis- 
pensations of  Providence.  He  showed  that  these  had 
their  origin  in  events  which  were  already  a  part  of 
European  history,  and  that  immigrants  had  brought  with 
them  from  over  the  Atlantic  seeds  of  revolution  and  of 
empire.  In  this  wide  outlook  he  was  a  leader  of  recent 
and  larger  methods  of  historical  composition,  which 
many  have  since  followed  to  the  great  advantage  of  their 


3^6  American  Literature 

readers.  All  delight  to  have  causes  of  events  pointed 
out,  and  the  more  remote  the  cause  the  greater  the 
pleasure  in  its  discovery. 

As  literature  Bancroft's  history  is  the  production  of  an 
industrious  and  conscientious  writer.  The  fact  and  what 
he  deemed  its  bearing  were  of  more  consequence  to  him 
than  its  presentation,  provided  this  was  clear  and,  if 
necessary,  forcible.  Probably  a  sense  of  the  magnitude 
and  dignity  of  his  task  was  always  before  him.  Then 
the  character  of  the  man,  his  inheritance  from  a  Puritan 
past  and  the  severe  stateliness  which  prevailed  in  high 
places  far  into  the  century  may  account  for  a  prevailing 
sobriety  which  sometimes  suggests  monotony.  There  are 
interesting  passages  which  the  reader  will  find  for  him- 
self in  the  table  of  contents  with  the  expectation  of 
picturesque  treatment.  He  must  be  content  if  they  are 
accurate  and  fair  and  not  overdrawn  to  support  a  theory. 
After  all,  it  was  best  that  our  earliest  historian  should 
write  in  this  way  rather^  than  as  a  romancer.  The  sub- 
ject itself  was  of  interest  to  a  people  whose  tastes  were 
simple  and  appetite  for  information  keen,  as  yet  unspoiled 
by  spiced  literature.  They  read  the  volumes  with  eager- 
ness as  they  appeared.  Edition  after  edition  was  called 
for  in  this  country  and  others.  The  work  was  phenom- 
enal then,  and  still  remains  a  standard  which  will  not 
easily  be  supplanted,  especially  by  the  documentary  his- 
tories from  which  each  reader  is  expected  to  draw  his 
own  conclusions.  In  history,  as  in  religion,  there  are 
some  people  who  like  to  have  their  thinking  done  for 
them  by  a  competent  authority.  Bancroft  was  willing 
to  do  this,  and,  after  making  allowance  for  any  bias  that 
he  may  have  had,  he  is  a  trustworthy  historian  of  the 


sparks,  Bancroft,  Hildreth,  Prescott     367 

colonial  and  revolutionary  periods  of  American  life.  He 
is  still  without  a  rival  in  his  chosen  field. 

His  voluminous  history  will  be  read  through  in  course 
by  few,  but  there  are  topics  in  the  table  of  contents  which 
will  interest  all  students  of  our  early  and  later  colonial 
life  — for  example,  "The  Mayflower,"  "Pilgrims,"  "Red 
Men,"  "  Annapolis,"  "  St.  Augustine,"  "  Stamp  Tax,"  "  Sam- 
uel Adams,"  "  Washington,"  "  Cabal  of  Conway,"  "  Inde- 
pendence of  the  United  States."  The  treatment  of  other 
topics  will  be  found  equally  valuable  according  to  the 
interest  of  each  reader.  Besides  his  history  Bancroft 
left  as  remainders  of  his  principal  work  a  volume  of 
"  Literary  and  Historical  Miscellanies  "  and  a  monograph 
on  the  "  Formation  of  the  Constitution,"  with  biographical 
and  memorial  addresses.  Also  a  collection  of  his  early 
poems  and  a  political  oration  delivered  at  Northampton 
in  1826.  Both  of  these  are  another  example  of  the  im- 
mature windfalls  which  persist  in  being  reckoned  with 
an  author's  riper  and  more  creditable  productions. 

The  closing  paragraph  of  the  tenth  volume,  in  which 
the  historian  brings  the  account  of  peace  negotiations  to 
an  end,  contains  the  result  of  a  seven  years'  war. 

"  The  articles  of  peace,  though  entitled  provisional,  were  made 
definitive  by  a  declaration  in  the  preamble.  Friends  of  Frank- 
lin gathered  around  him,  and  as  the  Duke  of  Rochefoucauld 
kissed  him  for  joy,  *  My  friend,'  said  Franklin,  *  could  I  have 
hoped  at  such  an  age  to  have  enjoyed  so  great  happiness  V 
The  treaty  was  not  a  compromise,  nor  a  compact  imposed  by 
force,  but  a  free  and  perfect  solution  and  perpetual  settlement 
of  all  that  had  been  called  in  question.  By  doing  an  act  of 
justice  to  her  former  colonies,  England  rescued  her  own  liberties 
at  home  from  imminent  danger,  and  opened  the  way  for  their 
slow  but  certain  development.     The  narrowly  selfish  colonial 


368  American  Literature 

policy  which  had  led  to  the  cruel  and  unnatural  war  was  cast 
aside  forever  by  Great  Britain,  which  was  henceforward,  as  the 
great  colonizing  power,  to  sow  all  the  oceans  with  the  seed  of 
republics.  For  the  United  States,  the  war,  which  began  by 
an  encounter  with  a  few  husbandmen  embattled  on  Lexington 
Green,  ended  with  their  independence  and  possession  of  all  the 
country  from  the  St.  Croix  to  the  southwestern  Mississippi, 
from  the  Lake  of  the  Woods  to  the  St.  Mary.  In  time  past, 
republics  had  been  confined  to  cities  and  their  dependencies,  or 
to  small  cantons ;  the  United  States  avowed  themselves  able  to 
fill  a  continental  territory  with  commonwealths.  "While  the 
constitutions  of  their  separate  members,  resting  on  the  principle 
of  self-direction,  were,  in  most  respects,  the  best  in  the  world, 
they  had  no  general  government;  and  as  they  went  forth  on 
untried  paths,  kings  expected  to  see  the  confederacy  fly  into 
fragments,  or  lapse  into  helpless  anarchy.  But  for  all  the  want 
of  government,  their  solemn  pledge  to  one  another  of  mutual 
citizenship  and  perpetual  union  made  them  one  people;  and 
that  people  was  superior  to  its  institutions,  possessing  the  vital 
force  which  goes  before  organization  and  gives  it  strength  and 
form.  Yet  for  success  the  liberty  of  the  individual  must  know 
how  to  set  itself  bounds ;  and  the  states,  displaying  the  highest 
quality  of  greatness,  must  learn  to  temper  their  rule  of  them- 
selves by  their  own  moderation." 

Eichard  Hildreth's  "History  of  the  United  States" 
used  to  be  mentioned  as  supplemental  to  Bancroft's.  It 
brings  the  record  down  a  generation  later  through  the 
administrations  of  the  first  four  presidents  to  1821.  The 
views  of  Federalist  and  Whig  are  also  emphasized  as 
opposed  to  Bancroft's  principles  of  democracy.  As  a 
work  of  history  and  literature  it  has  fallen  behind  in  the 
years  that  have  tested  the  permanent  elements  in  both. 
Personal  convictions  every  historian  must  have,  but  for 
himself  rather  than  for  readers  who  are  ready  to  take 
issue  with  him,  especially  with  regard  to  the  character 


Sparks,  Bancroft,  Hildreth,  Prescott     369 

of  public  men.  Each  of  these  historians  had  them,  but 
Hildreth  gave  his  own  freer  expression  than  the  other, 
laying  himself  open  to  the  charge  of  partisanship.  Still, 
he  will  always  have  weight  in  matters  of  fact  relating  to 
the  period  of  which  he  treated.  Besides,  he  was  not 
backward  in  taking  the  right  side  in  questions  which 
were  important  in  his  day. 

Three  years  after  the  publication  of  the  first  volume  of 
Bancroft's  history  another  phase  of  historical  composi- 
tion appeared  in  the  "History  of  the  Eeign 
of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  the  Catholic,"  by 
William  Hickling  Prescott.  When  readers  had  turned  a 
few  leaves  they  knew  that  they  had  struck  something  more 
than  history.  If  the  record  had  been  less  faithful  to  fact 
it  is  likely  they  would  have  read  on  and  on,  charmed  with 
the  way  the  story  was  told.  Inquiry  about  the  author 
found  him  a  Salem  boy  till  twelve,  afterward  living  in 
Boston,  graduated  from  Harvard  in  1814,  with  vision  im- 
paired for  a  lifetime  by  a  crust  of  bread  thrown  in  a 
students'  frolic.  After  two  years  of  travel  he  settled  in 
Boston,  and  at  the  age  of  twenty-five  began  the  study 
of  ancient  and  modern  literatures,  and  six  years  later  of 
Spanish  history  and  literature,  with  special  reference  to 
the  work  of  subsequent  years.  Fortunately,  he  had  the 
means  to  command  assistance  in  readers  and  copyists, 
although  he  made  the  first  drafts  himself  by  the  aid  of  a 
writing  frame  of  parallel  wires.  But  the  preliminary 
composition  was  done  in  his  mind,  and  retained*  in  a 
memory  sufficiently  tenacious  to  hold  the  equivalent  of 
sixty  printed  pages.  Over  this  material  he  labored  in 
his  walks  and  drives  until  it  was  ready  to  be  put  upon 
paper. 

24 


370  American  Literature 

After  ten  years  of  preparation  and  ten  more  spent  in 
composing,  he  completed  his  first  undertaking  at  the  age 
"Ferdinand  ^^  forty.  He  had  an  immediate  reward  in  the 
and  Isabella."  gnthusiastic  rcccption  that  was  given  it.  The 
long  and  laborious  years  had  not  been  passed  in  vain. 
Eeaders  dropped  their  novels  to  follow  the  more  inter- 
esting details  of  Spanish  a'dventure  in  a  period  full  of 
romance.  The  different  kingdoms  of  Spain  had  been 
united  under  one  monarchy,  which  was  now  devising 
vast  enterprises  of  discovery  and  conquest  in  a  hemi- 
sphere whose  existence  had  been  unsuspected  before  the 
voyage  of  Columbus.  The  establishment  of  the  Inquisi- 
tion, the  invasion  by  the  Moors,  the  war  of  Granada  and 
the  Italian  wars,  the  treatment  of  Columbus,  the  Spanish 
colonial  policy,  the  character  of  the  sovereigns,  the  ad- 
ministration of  Cardinal  Ximenes,  are  topics  which  were 
treated  in  a  style  corresponding  to  their  interest.  It  was 
an  age  of  barbaric  splendor,  of  chivalric  deeds,  and  daring 
enterprises.  Such  themes  could  not  be  treated  coldly, 
however  exactly  and  truthfully.  They  were  inspiring  to 
the  imagination.  Consequently  the  account  of  them  by 
a  writer  who  had  given  much  attention  to  style  is  most 
graphic.  It  caught  the  color  of  the  events  described  and 
of  the  deeds  recounted.  The  glint  of  armor  is  in  it,  the 
crimson  and  gold  of  flaunting  banners,  and  the  movement 
of  advancing  hosts. 

The  interest  of  the  historian  himself  naturally  culmi- 
nated in  the  characters  of  the  two  personages  who  most 
commended  themselves  to  his  sense  of  justice  and  no- 
bility, Queen  Isabella  and  Columbus.  How  he  regarded 
the  first  may  be  seen  from  portions  of  the  chapter  which 
reviews  her  life. 


Sparks,  Bancroft,  Hildreth,  Prescott     371 

"  Her  person  was  of  the  middle  height,  and  well  proportioned. 
She  had  a  clear,  fresh  complexion,  with  light  blue  eyes  and 
auburn  hair,  —  a  style  of  beauty  exceedingly  rare  in  Spain. 
Her  features  were  regular,  and  universally  allowed  to  be  un- 
commonly handsome.  Her  manners  were  gracious  and  pleasing. 
They  were  marked  by  natural  dignity  and  modest  reserve, 
tempered  by  an  afifability  which  flowed  from  the  kindliness  of 
her  disposition.  The  respect  which  she  imposed  was  mingled 
with  the  strongest  feelings  of  devotion  and  love.  By  her  conde- 
scending and  captivating  deportment,  as  well  as  by  her  higher 
qualities,  she  gained  an  ascendency  over  her  turbulent  subjects 
which  no  king  of  Spain  could  ever  boast. 

She  was  temperate  'and  frugal,  simple  and  economical,  of  a 
sedate  though  cheerful  temper,  with  little  taste  for  the  frivo- 
lous amusements  which  make  up  so  much  of  a  court  life. 

Among  her  moral  qualities  the  most  conspicuous,  perhaps, 
was  her  magnanimity.  Her  schemes  were  vast,  and  executed 
in  the  same  noble  spirit  in  which  they  were  conceived  and  with 
the  most  direct  and  open  policy.  She  seconded  Columbus  in 
the  prosecution  of  his  arduous  enterprise  and  shielded  him 
from  the  calumny  of  his  enemies. 

But  the  principle  which  gave  a  peculiar  coloring  to  every  fea- 
ture of  Isabella's  mind  was  piety.  It  shone  forth  from  the  very 
depths  of  her  soul  with  a  heavenly  radiance  which  illuminated 
her  whole  character. 

Though  blemishes  of  the  deepest  dye  are  on  her  administra- 
tion, they  certainly  are  not  to  be  regarded  as  such  on  her  moral 
character.  It  was  not  to  be  expected  that  a  solitary  woman, 
filled  with  natural  diffidence  of  her  own  capacity  in  such  sub- 
jects, should  array  herself  against  those  venerated  counsellors 
whom  she  had  been  taught  from  her  cradle  to  look  to  as  the 
guides  and  guardians  of  her  conscience.'* 

This  and  much  more  is  followed  by  a  discriminating 
comparison  of  Isabella  with  Elizabeth  of  England,  the 
two  sovereigns  of  the  chief  kingdoms  of  Europe  in  an  age 
of  vast  enterprise  and  ambition. 


37 2  American  Literature 

The  demand  for  this  new  example  of  historical  writing 
was  a  surprise  to  the  author  and  all  concerned.  Copies 
could  not  be  furnished  as  fast  as  they  were  called  for.  In 
a  few  months  more  were  sold  than  it  was  expected  could 
be  disposed  of  in  five  years.  No  such  success  had  been 
reached  by  dignified  work  in  this  country. 

A  similar  welcome  was  given  to  the  "Conquest  of 
Mexico "  six  years  later.  In  four  months  the  first  edi- 
other  ^^^^  °^   ^^®   thousand  copies  was  exhausted. 

Works.  Moreover,  one  hundred  and  thirty  critics  had 

sent  the  author  their  approval  in  as  many  newspapers. 
Nothing  further  could  be  asked  of  his  countrymen. 
From  England  the  same  testimony  came  in  elaborate 
reviews  by  such  scholars  as  Charles  Philips  and  Dean 
Milman.  Tributes  to  the  "Conquest  of  Peru"  were  in 
the  same  vein  two  years  afterward,  and  the  demand  for 
it  as  great  as  for  his  two  previous  works  and  at  the  rate 
of  one  thousand  copies  a  month.  The  "  Eeign  of  Philip 
II."  was  unfinished  at  his  death  in  1859.  But  he  needed 
nothing  to  give  him  a  more  assured  place  in  the  world 
of  letters.  This  was  recognized  abroad  as  well  as  at 
home,  and  is  now  as  it  was  in  his  lifetime.  Under  diffi- 
culties which  none  have  contended  with  who  have  under- 
taken a  task  of  such  magnitude  —  not  even  Milton  and 
Thierry  —  Prescott  accomplished  a  work  that  would  have 
been  more  than  creditable  to  an  investigator  with  good 
eyesight.  Without  this  he  demonstrated  the  possibilities 
of  a  reflective  mind  and  the  inner  vision,  and  the  supe- 
riority of  a  high  purpose  and  noble  character  to  bodily 
infirmity.  He  furnished  another  example  of  the  heroic 
in  literature. 


xxxn 

MOTLEY  AND  PARKMAN 

Spain  was  a  subject  of  engrossing  interest  to  our  earlier 
historians.  Irving  wrote  of  Granada,  the  Alhambra,  and 
the  voyages  which  Columbus  made  under  royal  auspices. 
Prescott  composed  three  elaborate  works  about  the  occupa- 
tion of  Central  American  domains  by  Spanish  invaders. 
Then  Motley  followed  with  his  accounts  of  the  struggle 
against  the  aggressions  of  Spain  in  the  Low  Countries. 
In  all  these  histories  a  view  is  given  of  what  was  once 
a  mighty  power  in  Europe  and  America,  which  contrasts 
strangely  with  the  estimate  of  it  produced  by  its  subse- 
quent decline. 

John  Lothrop  Motley,  like  Hildreth  and  Bancroft  and 
Prescott,  was  a  Massachusetts  boy,  born  in  Dorchester  in 
1814  and  graduated  from  Harvard  in  1831.  Motley's 
After  two  years'  study  in  Germany  he  read  EariyEfrorts. 
law,  as  several  men  of  letters  had  before  him,  while 
making  up  his  mind  with  regard  to  the  branch  of  litera- 
ture he  would  choose  for  a  profession.  A  semi-biograph- 
ical novel  entitled  "Morton's  Hope"  did  not  encourage 
him  or  his  friends  to  believe  that  fiction  was  his  forte. 
Keither  did  the  later  "  Merry  Mount,  a  Komance  of  the 
Massachusetts  Colony,"  reverse  the  first  judgment, 
although  the  descriptive  passages  gave  promise  of  some- 
thing better  in  after  years.  Between  the  two  stories  he 
had  published  a  fifty-page  article  in  the  *'  North  American 
Be  view  "  on  Peter  the  Great,  which  was  prophetic  of  his  true 

373 


374  American  Literature 

vocation  as  a  writer  of  history  and  biography.  Where- 
upon his  friends,  who  had  withheld  their  commendation 
of  his  romances,  urged  him  to  undertake  something  large 
in  the  historical  line.  It  is  probable  that  he  needed  little 
urging,  since  he  had  already  begun  the  study  of  events 
and  principles,  also  of  fiction,  for  their  picturesque  setting. 
Out  of  the  last  came  a  critical  essay  upon  Balzac,  followed 
by  another  on  the  "  Polity  of  the  Puritans,"  broad  and 
charitable,  as  might  be  expected  from  the  author's 
antecedents. 

Meantime  his  choice  of  a  great  historical  theme  had 
fallen  upon  the  "  Kise  of  the  Dutch  Kepublic."  It  was  an 
The  "Dutch  iiispiring  study,  from  remote  ages  when  bar- 
Repubhc."  "bariau  tribes  inhabiting  low  morasses  by  the 
sea  sent  the  Batavian  legion  to  be  the  bodyguard  of 
Eoman  emperors  down  to  the  times  of  Charles  Martel 
and  Charlemagne  and  of  the  dukes  of  Burgundy,  when 
the  Netherlands  became  the  richest  and  most  populous 
part  of  Europe.  And  afterward,  when  the  daughter  of 
Charles  the  Bold  took  the  title  to  the  Austrian  Maxi- 
milian, her  husband,  and  when  their  grandson  resigned 
it  to  Philip  II.  of  Spain  in  1555,  the  same  opulence  and 
splendor  went  with  the  transmitted  inheritance.  So  also 
did  a  growing  Protestantism,  an  element  not  agreeable 
to  the  last  inheritor,  who  straightway  undertook  to  uproot 
the  new  Keformation  doctrines,  and  to  restore  the  Eoman 
Catholic  supremacy  by  the  tyranny  of  Alva,  which  even- 
tually united  the  provinces  in  a  republic  whose  naval 
power  became  the  foremost  in  the  world,  ultimately  com- 
pelling Spain  to  acknowledge  its  independence,  and  laying 
the  foundation  of  a  colonial  system  which  is  still  a  factor 
in  European  politics. 


Motley  and  Parkman  375 

This  growth  of  discordant  states  beneath  the  hand  of 
the  oppressor  into  a  united,  free,  and  potent  nation  was 
a  theme  to  stir  the  American  historian  to  a  rare  persis- 
tence of  research  and  labor  among  the  archives  of  the 
old  world.  He  had  already  been  working  some  years 
at  home  on  his  projected  history  when  he  found  that 
to  do  the  subject  justice  he  must  resort  to  the  libraries 
of  Europe.  He  gave  this  account  of  himself  at  Brussels 
in  1853 : 

"  I  find  so  much  original  matter  here  and  so  many  emenda- 
tions to  make  that  I  am  ready  to  despair.  However,  there  is 
nothing  to  do  but  to  penelopize,  pull  to  pieces  and  stitch  away 
again.  I  go  day  after  day  to  the  archives  here  (as  I  went  all 
summer  at  The  Hague)  studying  old  letters  and  documents. 
Here  I  remain  among  my  fellow  worms,  feeding  on  these  musty 
mulberry  leaves,  out  of  which  we  are  afterward  to  spin  our 
silk.  It  is,  however,  not  without  its  amusement  in  a  moldy 
sort  of  a  way,  this  reading  of  dead  letters.  It  is  something 
to  read  the  real,  bona  fide  signs  manual  of  such  fellows  as 
William  of  Orange,  Count  Egmont,  Alexander  Farnese,  Philip 
II.,  Cardinal  Granvelle,  and  the  rest  of  them.'* 

What  a  fabric  he  wove  out  of  these  "  musty  leaves " 
after  ten  years  of  delving  was  seen  in  1856,  when  the 
three  solid  octavos  of  the  "  Dutch  Eepublic  "  were  issued 
simultaneously  in  London  and  New  York.  Eeaders 
were  enthusiastic  in  their  admiration,  and  great  critics 
sent  in  their  approval.  Mr.  Froude  wrote  in  the  "  West- 
minster Ee  view  " :  "Of  Mr.  Motley's  antecedents  we 
know  nothing.  If  he  has  previously  appeared  before  the 
public  his  reputation  has  not  crossed  the  Atlantic.  It 
will  not  be  so  now.  We  believe  that  we  may  promise 
him  as  warm   a  welcome  among  ourselves  as   he  will 


37^  American  Literature 

receive  even  in  America ;  that  his  place  will  be  at  once 
conceded  to  him  among  the  first  historians  in  our  com- 
mon language."  And  so  said  Guizot,  Lieber,  and  the  rest 
of  foreign  critics.  At  home  Edward  Everett,  Irving, 
Bancroft,  Hillard,  and  Sumner  joined  in  the  general 
acclamation.  Prescott's  testimony  was  as  valuable  as  it 
was  graceful,  since  the  circle  of  Motley's  investigations 
had  cut  into  his  own,  as  his  previously  had  intersected 
the  field  which  Irving  had  pre-empted.  A  pleasing 
chapter  might  be  added  to  the  amenities  of  literature  on 
the  courtesy  of  these  three  authors  to  each  other  in  the 
occupation  of  this  historical  El  Dorado.  It  proved  rich 
enough  for  all,  and  the  world  is  fortunate  in  that  it  was 
mined  by  three  instead  of  one  alone.  Spain  itself  can 
afford  to  offset  some  of  the  indignities  it  has  lately 
suffered  with  the  tribute  which  three  Americans  have 
paid  before  all  the  world  to  her  greatness  and  glory  in 
the  day  of  her  power. 

No  brief  extracts  from  Motley's  voluminous  writings 
can  give  an  adequate  idea  of  their  fitness  to  the  general 
Topics  of  subject  or  their  adaptation  to  particular  sec- 
interest.  tious  and  episodes.  Headers  who  cannot  cover 
the  length  and  breadth  of  his  historical  scheme,  embrac- 
ing as  it  did  the  "  History  of  the  United  Netherlands," 
and  the  "Life  and  Death  of  John  of  Barneveld,"  besides 
the  "Dutch  Eepublic,"  such  readers  will  judge  of  the 
entire  work  by  topics  which  have  a  romantic  interest 
both  in  themselves  and  in  the  manner  of  their  treatment 
by  the  historian.  His  portraiture  of  great  personages  and 
his  description  of  stirring  events  are  more  faithful  and 
vivid  than  any  painting,  because  they  reproduce  changing 
records   and  continuous  action   as   pictorial   art   cannot. 


Motley  and  Parkman  377 

The  abilities  and  shortcomings  of  Henry  of  Navarre,  the 
piety,  firmness,  and  political  sagacity  of  William  the 
Silent,  the  lonely  greatness  of  Queen  Elizabeth  and 
her  puzzling  inconsistencies,  the  administrative  enterprise 
of  Philip  II.,  are  characterizations  both  interesting  and 
instructive.  The  accounts  of  the  siege  of  Antwerp,  the 
defence  of  Leyden,  the  defeat  of  the  Armada,  and  of  other 
prominent  incidents  are  great  historic  panoramas  which 
move  before  the  reader's  vision  with  the  vivid  reality 
that  belonged  to  the  events  they  record. 

To  Americans  perhaps  the  most  interesting  passage  is 
the  episode  of  the  Pilgrims'  residence  in  Leyden  consti- 
tuting the  nineteenth  chapter  in  the  "Life  of  John  of 
Barneveld." 

"  It  so  happened  that  there  were  some  English  Puritans  living 
at  that  moment  in  Leyden.  They  formed  an  independent 
society  by  themselves  which  they  called  a  Congregational 
Church,  and  in  which  were  some  three  hundred  communicants. 
The  length  of  their  residence  there  was  almost  exactly  coeval 
with  the  Twelve  Years'  Truce. 

"  All  these  Englishmen  were  not  poor.  Many  of  them  occu- 
pied houses  of  fair  value,  and  were  admitted  to  the  freedom  of 
the  city.  The  pastor  with  three  of  his  congregation  lived  in  a 
comfortable  mansion,  which  they  had  purchased  for  the  con- 
siderable sum  of  8000  florins,  and  on  the  garden  of  which  they 
subsequently  erected  twenty-one  lesser  tenements  for  the  use  of 
the  poorer  brethren. 

'*  Thus  the  little  community,  which  grew  gradually  larger  by 
emigration  from  England,  passed  many  years  of  tranquillity. 
They  gave  oifence  to  none  and  were  respected  by  all. 

*'The  little  English  congregation  remained  at  Leyden  till 
toward  the  end  of  the  Truce,  thriving,  orderly,  respected,  happy. 
They  were  witnesses  to  the  tumultuous,  disastrous,  and  tragical 
events  which  darkened  the  Eepublic  in  those  later  years,  them- 


37^  American  Literature 

selves  unobserved  and  unmolested.  They  got  their  living  as 
best  they  might  by  weaving,  spinning,  and  other  humble  trades  ; 
they  borrowed  money  on  mortgages,  they  built  houses,  they 
made  wills,  and  such  births,  deaths,  and  marriages  as  occurred 
among  them  were  registered  by  the  town-clerk. 

"  At  last  for  a  variety  of  reasons  they  resolved  to  leave  the 
Netherlands.  Perhaps  they  were  appalled  by  the  excesses  into 
which  men  of  their  own  religious  sentiments  had  been  carried 
by  theological  and  political  passion.  At  any  rate,  depart  they 
would ;  the  larger  half  of  the  congregation  remaining  behind 
however  till  the  pioneers  had  broken  the  way,  and  in  their  own 
language  '  laid  the  stepping-stones.' 

'*  They  had  thought  of  lands  beneath  the  Equator ;  but  the 
tropical  scheme  was  soon  abandoned.  They  offered  to  colonize 
New  Amsterdam  if  assured  of  the  protection  of  the  United 
Provinces.  Their  petition  had  been  rejected.  They  had  then 
turned  their  faces  to  their  old  master  and  their  own  country, 
applying  to  the  Virginia  Company  for  a  land-patent,  which  they 
were  only  too  happy  to  promise,  and  to  the  King  for  liberty  of 
religion  in  the  wilderness,  confirmed  under  his  broad  seal,  which 
his  Majesty  of  course  refused.  It  was  hinted,  however,  that 
James  would  connive  at  them  and  not  molest  them  if  they 
carried  themselves  peaceably.  So  they  resolved  to  go  without 
the  seal,  for,  said  their  magistrate  very  wisely,  ^  if  there  should 
be  a  purpose  or  desire  to  wrong  them,  a  seal  would  not  serve 
their  turn  though  it  were  as  broad  as  the  house-floor.' 

**  These  were  the  Pilgrim  Fathers  of  New  England,  the  founders 
of  what  was  to  be  the  mightiest  republic  of  modern  history, 
mighty  and  stable  because  founded  upon  an  idea. 

*^It  signifies  not  how  much  or  how  little  one  may  sym- 
pathize with  their  dogma  or  their  discipline  now.  To  the  fact 
that  the  early  settlement  of  the  wilderness  was  by  men  of 
earnestness  and  faith,  in  the  midst  of  savage  beasts,  more 
savage  men,  and  unimaginable  difficulties  and  dangers,  there 
can  be  little  doubt  that  the  highest  forms  of  Western  civiliza- 
tion are  due." 


Motley  and  Parkman  379 

Of  course  there  are  not  in  this  plain  account  the  dra- 
matic features  which  distinguish  such  portrayals  as  that 
of  the  trial  and  execution  of  the  great  Advocate  of  Hol- 
land, or  even  that  of  the  escape  of  Grotius  in  a  book-chest 
from  his  prison  of  thirteen  walls,  not  to  mention  again 
the  topics  already  enumerated,  to  which  others  of  similar 
graphic  interest  might  be  added.  The  writer  who  could 
thus  depict  such  scenes  had  gathered  the  testimony  of 
eye-witnesses  from  dusty  manuscripts  and  moldy  letters 
and  ponderous  chronicles.  Their  diverse  representations 
from  outside  or  inside  the  walls  of  a  beleaguered  city, 
from  the  foot  of  a  scaffold,  or  on  the  edge  of  the  crowd, 
he  put  together  in  consistent  narrative  full  of  strength 
and  radiant  with  light.  The  sword  and  helmet  and  axe 
flash  again  in  the  sunlight;  diplomats,  intriguers,  and 
assassins  shadow  one  another  in  dark  corners  of  castle 
and  palace.  It  is  often  a  picture  painted  with  blood  and 
smoke,  lurid  for  a  moment  with  the  flash  of  cannon  or 
the  flames  of  a  burning  city.  Only  at  last  when  truth 
and  righteousness  begin  to  prevail  does  the  sky  clear 
and  a  new  hope  dawn  for  an  oppressed  people. 

It  was  not  permitted  this  historian  to  finish  the  story 
of  the  "  Eighty  Years'  Tragedy  "  by  writing  the  last  act  in 
the  "  Thirty  Years'  War."  In  "  John  of  Barneveld  "  he 
had  set  forth  what  one  of  his  literary  predecessors  might 
have  called  the  "  flounderings  of  a  double  Dutchman  in  a 
sea  of  theological  mud  "  over  the  "  five  points  of  the  Ar- 
minians  and  the  seven  points  of  the  Gomarites"  —  fore- 
knowledge, free  will,  election,  irresistible  grace,  and  so  on. 
It  was  interesting  to  him  as  an  antitype  of  a  similar  wrangle 
in  New  England 'over  the  same  points  after  the  Pilgrims 
came  out  of  Holland.     But  the  brave  little  state  itself 


380  American  Literature 

found  a  historian  worthy  of  the  valiant  people  who  first 
rescued  its  territory  from  the  sea  and  defended  it  from 
the  invasion  of  tyrants.  Motley  himself,  ill  treated  by 
the  government  which  he  honored  in  Vienna  and  London, 
has  met  with  a  recognition  higher  than  a  chief  magistrate 
could  bestow  or  take  away  in  his  acknowledged  position 
as,  all  in  all,  our  greatest  historian.  His  record  is  in  the 
labor  of  a  lifetime  and  in  the  tributes  which  have  been 
paid  to  his  work  and  his  character  by  competent  authorities 
both  in  his  own  country  and  in  foreign  lands. 

What  Prescott  did  for  the  discoveries  and  conquests 

of  Spain  in  tropical  America  Parkman  accomplished  for 

the  aggressions  of  France  in  the  North.     His 

Parkman.  .  ,.     i         »  t    •  - 

theme  was  another  mstance  of  the  felicity  of 
genius  shown  in  the  choice  of  a  subject  as  well  as  in  its 
treatment.  In  his  case  the  field  was  practically  unoccupied 
when  he  entered  it,  and  he  so  cultivated  it  that  there  was 
no  need  of  another  hand.  All  who  shall  follow  him  for 
some  time  will  find  little  which  he  did  not  mark  or  reject. 
They  will  have  to  content  themselves  with  the  superfluities 
which  he  cast  away  and  with  what  was  withheld  from 
him. 

Parkman  followed  the  example  of  a  majority  of  the 
writers  in  the  New  England  renaissance  in  being  the  son 
Among  ^^  ^  minister  in  revolt,  against  ecclesiastical 

Indians.  traditions.  Of  course  he  would  go  to  Harvard, 
where  the  atmosphere  was  no  longer  theologically  too  high 
and  dry.  Then,  like  his  immediate  predecessors,  he  tried 
his  hand  at  fiction  in  "Vassall  Morton,"  before  settling 
down  to  history  writing.  One  other  experiment  he  also 
made  in  going  to  live  with  the  Sioux  Indians  in  the  Black 
Hills  in  order  to  study  the  Indian  as  he  is,  or  rather  was 


Motley  and  Parkman  381 

before  he  donned  an  old  silk  hat  for  the  principal  part  of 
his  costume.  In  1846  the  genuine  Dacotah  was  wrapped 
in  a  blanket,  decorated  with  feathers  and  paint,  and  armed 
with  arrows  and  lance.  He  was  like  his  forefathers,  whose 
alliance  with  the  French  constituted  a  large  feature  of  the 
struggle  which  Parkman  was  going  to  recount.  Then  there 
was  the  half-breed  trapper,  another  element  in  the  story, 
combining  the  characteristics  of  both  races.  The  French- 
man was  an  easier  study  from  the  present  life  and  his- 
torical documents.  Unfortunately  Parkman  came  out  of 
this  instructive  but  unnatural  episode  of  savage  living 
with  eyesight  so  impaired  by  glaring  sunlight  and  wigwam 
smoke  that  his  subsequent  researches  were  to  be  attended 
with  the  same  difficulties  that  beset  Prescott.  But  the 
same  courageous  persistence  was  his,  and  also  the  same 
triumphant  achievement. 

It  began  with  a  series  of  magazine  sketches,  which  were 
published  in  a  volume  in  1847,  entitled  "The  Oregon 
Trail ;  Sketches  of  Prairie  and  Eocky  Mountain 
Life,"  a  transcript  of  the  adventure  above  men-  struggle  for 

a  Continent. 

tioned  and  a  preliminary  study  to  the  series  he 
was  about  to  write,  as  "  The  Conspiracy  of  Pontiac,"  his 
next  book  was  a  sequel  to  that  series  in  describing  a  sort 
of  final  shot  from  9.  retreating  foe  after  the  battle  was  over. 
Then  came  the  real  opening  of  the  dramatic  story  in  "  The 
Pioneers  of  France  in  the  New  World,"  1865,  followed  at 
intervals  of  two  or  three  years  by  "  The  Jesuits  in  North 
America  in  the  Seventeenth  Century,"  "  La  Salle,  or  The 
Discovery  of  the  Great  West,"  "  The  Old  E^gime  in  Can- 
ada," "Count  Frontenac  and  New  France  Under  Louis 
XIV.,"  and  "  Montcalm  and  Wolfe."  Together  these  books 
are  chapters  in  the  history  of  the  contest  between  France 


382  American  Literature 

and  England  for  the  possession  of  this  continent  —  the 
attempt  of  the  one  to  surround  the  other  by  a  line  of 
hostile  forces  along  the  great  waterway  of  river  and  lake 
from  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  and 
to  crowd  English  colonists  to  the  seashore  and  into  the 
sea.  The  alternative  was  that  the  colonists  of  France 
might  be  overrun  and  dispersed  with  their  savage  allies  by 
the  encroaching  English,  who  were  fast  becoming  Amer- 
icans, and,  it  may  be  added,  who  were  immensely  helped 
in  the  process  by  the  ensuing  French  and  Indian  War, 
which  showed  them  their  strength. 

The  history  of  this  war  had  been  written  after  a  fashion 
for  school  boys,  and  in  a  more  elaborate  way  for  adults  in 
the  larger  histories.  An  exhaustive  treatment  of  the 
subject,  involving  researches  in  the  archives  of  Canada 
and  France  and  personal  inspection  of  places  where  events 
occurred,  became  the  life  work  of  Francis  Parkman.  For 
fifty  years  he  labored  with  the  assistance  of  readers  and 
copyists,  visiting  the  libraries  of  Europe  seven  times  and 
accumulating  two  himdred  folio  volumes  of  copied  docu- 
ments. The  assimilation  and  condensation  of  these  in  his 
mind  took  final  shape  in  sentences,  paragraphs,  chapters, 
and  books  dictated  to  amanuenses.  It  is  another  instance 
of  the  triumph  of  the  intellect  over  conventional  methods 
of  labor  with  the  pen  and  by  the  sight  of  the  eyes. 
Happily  this  man's  fortune  permitted  him  to  employ 
others  to  do  for  him  what  his  infirmities  did  not  allow  him 
to  undertake. 

Doubtless  the  result  was  not  diminished  in  quantity  or 
Literary  quality.  As  it  stauds,  the  work  is  a  monument 
Heroism.  ^^  industry,  perseverance,  and  devotion  to  an 
early  purpose  in  the  face  of  hindrances  full  of  annoyance 


Motley  and  Parkman  383 

and  pain.  The  men  who  perform  such  tasks  under  such 
conditions  are  to  be  reckoned  among  the  occasional  heroes 
whose  deeds  and  virtues  they  commemorate.  While  they 
are  perpetuating  the  achievements  of  other  men  of  renown 
they  unconsciously  and  incidentally  build  to  themselves 
an  everlasting  memorial.  Such  was  a  secondary  result  of 
Parkman's  task.  In  fixing  for  posterity  the  fading  image 
and  likeness  of  a  passing  race  of  an  almost  prehistoric 
barbarism ;  in  depicting  the  traits  of  a  monarchy  which 
was  more  absolute  here  than  in  its  native  France,  but  now 
as  obsolete  as  some  of  the  words  it  left  in  the  wilds  of 
Canada ;  in  portraying  the  sturdy  freedom  of  the  British 
colonist  at  a  convenient  distance  from  a  throne  not  too 
paternal,  except  in  the  matter  of  revenue ;  in  the  descrip- 
tion of  a  wilderness  glory  untouched  by  civilized  man; 
in  recounting  deeds  of  valor,  devotion,  and  sacrifice,  and 
in  painting  all  the  wild  pageantry  of  border  warfare, 
Parkman  has  made  the  strife  of  races  for  the  possession  of 
North  America  as  picturesque  as  romance  without  sur- 
rendering the  truth  of  history. 

The  decisive  engagement  in  this  prolonged  struggle  for 
supremacy  is  described  in  the  twenty-seventh  chapter  of 
"  Montcalm  and  Wolfe,"  together  with  the  death  of  both 
leaders  on  the  heights  of  Abraham. 

"The  day  broke  in  clouds  and  threatening  rain.  Wolfe's 
battalions  were  drawn  up  along  the  crest  of  the  heights.  He 
went  to  reconnoitre  the  ground,  and  soon  came  to  the  Plains  of 
Abraham  —  so  called  from  Abraham  Martin,  a  pilot  who  had 
owned  a  piece  of  land  here  in  the  early  times  of  the  colony  — 
forming  a  high  plateau  at  the  eastern  end  of  which  Quebec  stood. 
At  the  place  that  Wolfe  chose  for  his  battle-field  the  plateau 
was  less  than  a  mile  wide.  Thither  the  troops  advanced  and 
wheeled  to  form  their  hne  of  battle,  which  stretched  across  the 


384  American  Literature 

plateau  and  faced  the  city.  Montcalm  had  passed  a  troubled 
night.  At  daybreak  he  heard  the  sound  of  cannon  above  the 
town.  It  was  the  battery  of  Samos  firing  on  the  English  ships. 
About  six  o'clock  he  mounted  and  rode  with  Johnstone  to  the 
quarters  of  Vaudreuil,  where  they  saw  some  two  miles  away 
the  red  ranks  of  British  soldiers  on  the  heights  beyond.  Mont- 
calm stopped  for  a  few  words  with  Vaudreuil,  then  set  spurs  to 
his  horse  and  rode  to  the  scene  of  danger. 

"  The  army  followed  in  such  order  as  it  might,  entered  at  the 
Palace  Gate,  and  pressed  on  in  headlong  march  along  the  quaint 
narrow  streets  of  the  warlike  town ;  troops  of  Indians  in  scalp- 
locks  and  war  paint,  a  savage  glitter  in  their  deep-set  eyes ;  bands 
of  Canadians  whose  all  was  at  stake,  —  faith,  country,  and 
home  ;  the  colony  regulars ;  the  battalions  of  Old  France,  a  tor- 
rent of  white  uniforms  and  gleaming  bayonets,  —  victors  of 
Oswego,  William  Henry,  and  Ticonderoga.  So  they  swept  on, 
poured  out  upon  the  plain,  to  where  the  banners  of  Guienne  still 
fluttered  on  the  ridge.  Montcalm  was  amazed  at  what  he  saw. 
He  had  expected  a  detachment,  and  he  found  an  army.  Full  in 
sight  before  him  stretched  the  lines  of  Wolfe  :  the  close  ranks  of 
the  English  infantry,  a  silent  wall  of  red,  and  the  wild  array  of  the 
Highlanders,  with  their  waving  tartans,  and  bagpipes  screaming 
defiance.  Montcalm  waited  long  for  the  forces  he  had  ordered 
to  join  him.  He  waited  in  vain.  Fight  he  must,  for  Wolfe 
was  now  in  a  position  to  cut  ofl^  all  his  supplies.  His  men  were 
full  of  ardor,  and  he  resolved  to  attack  before  their  ardor  cooled. 

"  Three  field-pieces  plied  the  English  with  canister-shot,  and 
fifteen  hundred  Canadians  and  Indians  fusiladed  them  in  front 
flank.  .  .  . 

"  It  was  towards  ten  o'clock  when  Wolfe  saw  that  the  crisis  was 
near.  The  French  came  on  rapidly,  uttering  loud  shouts,  and 
firing  as  soon  as  they  were  within  range.  The  British  advanced 
a  few  rods ;  then  halted  and  stood  still.  When  the  French  were 
within  forty  paces  the  word  of  command  rang  out,  and  a  crash 
of  musketry  answered  all  along  the  line.  The  volley  was  de- 
livered with  remarkable  precision.  Another  volley  followed, 
and  then  a  furious  clattering  fire  that  lasted  but  a  minute  or 


Motley  and  Parkman  385 

two.  The  order  was  given  to  charge.  Then  over  the  field  rose 
the  British  cheer,  mixed  with  the  Highland  slogan.  Some  of 
the  corps  pushed  forward  with  the  bayonet;  some  advanced 
firing.  The  clansmen  drew  their  broadswords  and  dashed 
on,  keen  and  swift  as  bloodhounds.  At  the  right  Wolfe  him- 
self held  the  charge,  at  the  head  of  the  Louisburg  grenadiers. 
A  shot  shattered  his  wrist.  He  wrapped  his  handkerchief  about 
it  and  kept  on.  Another  shot  struck  him,  and  he  still  advanced, 
when  a  third  lodged  in  his  breast.  He  staggered  and  sat  on 
the  ground.  Carried  to  the  rear  by  his  men  he  begged  them  to 
lay  him  down.  They  did  so,  and  asked  if  he  would  have  a 
surgeon.  *  There  is  no  need,'  he  answered ;  *  it 's  all  over 
with  me.'  Told  that  the  enemy  ran,  he  exclaimed  'Now 
God  be  praised,  I  will  die  in  peace ! '  and  in  a  few  moments 
his  gallant  soul  had  fled. 

"  Montcalm,  still  on  horseback,  was  borne  with  the  tide  of 
fugitives  towards  the  town.  As  he  approached  the  walls  a  shot 
passed  through  his  body.  He  kept  his  seat ;  two  soldiers  sup- 
ported him,  one  on  each  side,  and  led  his  horse  through  the  St. 
Louis  Gate.  On  the  open  space  within,  among  the  excited 
crowd,  were  several  women,  drawn,  no  doubt,  by  eagerness  to 
know  the  result  of  the  fight.  One  of  them  recognized  him, 
saw  the  streaming  blood,  and  shrieked,  *  0  mon  Dieu  /  mon 
Dieu  /  le  Marquis  est  tue  r  *  It  *s  nothing,  it  *s  nothing,*  re- 
plied the  death-stricken  man ;  '  don't  be  troubled  for  me,  my 
good  friends.'" 

The  death  of  two  commanders  was  as  nothing  when 
compared  with  the  results  of  the  battle  in  which  they 
fell ;  for  thenceforward  a  continent  was  to  be  English  and 
not  French  in  its  speech  and  its  ruling  ideas. 


XXXIII 

SOUTHERN  ORATORS 

In  this  period,  as  in  the  colonial,  some  of  its  best  litera- 
ture was  spoken.  It  does  not  much  matter  whether  the 
preliminary  composition  was  made  with  pen  and  ink, 
wholly  or  in  part,  or  whether  the  words  flowed  unwritten 
from  a  mind  that  had  pondered  long  upon  the  subject,  or 
whether  in  their  final  form  they  were  the  result  of  correc- 
tion and  revision.  The  version  which  has  been  accepted 
and  approved  by  the  speaker  or,  in  some  instances,  by 
hearers  and  contemporaries,  is  what  must  abide  the  tests 
of  literary  value. 

The  oratory  which  had  become  a  prominent  feature  of 
intellectual  life  before  the  war  for  independence  and  up 
Deliberative  ^^  ^^®  adoption  of  the  Constitution  received  a 
Oratory.  ^^^  impulse  whcu  this  instrument  came  to 
be  the  rule  of  national  administration.  It  was  a  rule 
which  was  new  to  all  and  not  a  favorite  with  many. 
Those  who  had  made  concessions  could  not  forget  what 
they  had  surrendered.  There  was  room  for  varied  and 
diverse  interpretation  of  rights  and  privileges.  In  partic- 
ular the  powers  which  belonged  to  the  original  colonies 
before  there  was  either  federation  or  union  were  the  cause 
of  much  dispute,  and  when  a  union  of  these  separate  and 
sometimes  discordant  provinces  was  agreed  upon  and 
established  by  the  Constitution  a  vast  amount  of  defini- 
tion and  discussion  followed,  —  as  also  with  respect  to 

386 


Southern  Orators  387 

home  and  foreign  policies  and  the  conflicting  interests  of 
different  sections  of  the  country.  All  this  had  to  be 
brought  into  the  sessions  of  the  people's  representatives 
and  those  of  each  state  assembled  in  Congress,  where 
deliberative  oratory  followed  as  a  matter  of  course. 
.  It  would  have  been  strange  if  this  had  not  been  of  a 
high  order,  considering  the  antecedents  of  eloquence  in 
this  country  and  examples  of  it  in  the  British  Parliament 
easily  accessible  in  the  reported  speeches  of  illustrious 
orators.  In  the  first  quarter  of  the  century  and  later  oral 
discourse  was  the  principal  means  of  political  instruction. 
The  people  had  been  trained  to  listen  by  two  or  three 
sermons  and  lectures  a  week  for  two  centuries,  and  a 
corresponding  education  had  been  given  by  practice  in 
the  pulpit  and  at  the  bar  to  a  race  of  speakers.  The 
newspaper  was  as  yet  limited  to  a  fractional  part  of  its 
present  scope  and  circulation.  The  town-meeting,  the 
campaign  assembly,  the  state  legislature,  the  house  of 
representatives,  and  the  senate  chamber  were  the  pro- 
gressive steps  in  the  political  education  of  statesmen  who 
in  those  days  listened  to  the  words  that  were  spoken, 
having  no  "  organ  "  laid  upon  their  desks  each  morning  to 
guide  them  in  the  formation  of  their  daily  opinions  and 
principles  more  or  less  permanent.  The  man  who  in 
those  years  aspired  to  influence  his  fellow-citizens  and 
legislators  had  to  depend  upon  his  speech,  in  all  the  com- 
prehensive meaning  of  the  term,  including  his  intellectual 
attainments  as  well  as  his  personal  power  with  an  audi- 
ence. As  a  consequence,  the  orator's  art  became  one  of 
the  ambitions  of  a  public  man,  more  easily  acquired  then 
by  reason  of  its  general  prevalence  and  the  inheritance 
from  preceding  generations. 


388  American  Literature 

Congressional  oratory  may  conveniently  be  said  to 
begin  with  the  opening  of  the  century,  when  in  1800 
John  John  Randolph  was  sent  to  Congress.     It  was 

Randolph.  fitting  that  the  traditional  eloquence  of  the 
South  should  be  continued  by  this  ambitious  though  ec- 
centric Virginian.  He  cannot  be  called  a  man  of  peace, 
being  usually,  as  was  once  said,  "  in  opposition  to  the 
exercise  of  authority  by  anybody  but  himself."  This  dis- 
position fostered  a  denunciatory  habit  of  speech  which 
easily  ran  into  invective  and  sometimes  malediction.  It 
was  a  stormy  sort  of  eloquence,  enjoyed,  no  doubt,  by 
sympathizing  colleagues  more  than  by  opponents.  Still, 
it  is  said  that  his  speeches  were  read  more  generally  than 
those  of  any  other  member  of  Congress.  Events  that 
were  to  take  place  half  a  century  later  appear  to  have 
been  foreseen  by  this  ill-boding  but  true  prophet,  yet 
what  he  dreaded  as  a  "  coalition  of  knavery  and  fanati- 
cism "  finally  issued  in  the  united  devotion  of  all  parties 
and  sections  to  a  common  country.  He  could  predict  the 
incidental  calamity,  but  could  not  see  the  ultimate  resto- 
ration. Nevertheless,  he  left  on  record  one  phase  of  ora- 
tory, and  if  it  is  sombre  and  even  violent  at  times  its 
counterpart  can  be  found  wherever  an  ardent  and  coura- 
geous soul  has  met  evils  that  threatened  disaster. 

No  paragraph  from  his  speeches  can  show  one-half  of 
any  orator's  power,  but  a  few  sentences  may  be  suggestive 
of  his  spirit.  On  so  tame  an  issue  as  the  tariff  Randolph 
could  find  place  for  the  following  words : 

**  *  All  policy  is  very  suspicious,*  says  an  eminent  statesman, 
*  that  sacrifices  the  interest  of  any  part  of  a  community  to  the 
ideal  good  of  the  whole.  With  all  the  fantastical  and  prepos- 
terous theories  about  the  rights  of  man  there  is  nothing  but 


Southern  Orators  389 

power  that  can  restrain  power.'  I  do  not  stop  here  to  argue 
about  the  constitutionality  of  this  bill ;  I  consider  the  Consti- 
tution a  dead  letter.  I  consider  it  to  consist  at  this  time  of  the 
power  of  the  general  government  and  the  power  of  the  states  — 
that  is  the  Constitution.  *  You  may  intrench  yourself  in  parch- 
ment to  the  teeth,'  says  Lord  Chatham,  *the  sword  will  find 
its  way  to  the  vitals  of  the  Constitution.'  I  have  no  faith  in 
parchment ;  I  have  faith  in  the  power  of  that  Commonwealth 
of  which  I  am  an  unworthy  son,  and  in  the  power  of  those 
states  which  went  with  us  through  the  valley  of  the  shadow  of 
death  in  the  war  of  our  independence.  If  you  prevent  exporta- 
tion and  draw  the  last  shilling  from  our  pockets,  what  are  the 
checks  of  the  Constitution  to  us  ?  A  tig  for  the  Constitution  I 
When  the  scorpion's  sting  is  probing  us  to  the  quick  shall  we 
stop  to  chop  logic?  Shall  we  get  some  learned  and  cunning 
clerk  to  say  whether  the  power  to  do  this  is  to  be  found  in  the 
Constitution,  and  then,  like  the^  animal  whose  fleece  forms  so 
material  a  portion  of  this  bill,  quietly  lie  down  to  be  shorn  ? 
We  have  other  business  to  attend  to  and  our  affairs  need  our 
attention  at  home ;  and  I,  sir,  would  not  give  one  farthing  for 
any  man  who  prefers  being  here  in  Congress  to  being  at  home, 
who  is  a  good  public  man  and  a  bad  private  one.  With 
these  views  and  feelings  I  move  that  the  bill  be  indefinitely 
postponed." 

The  name  of  Henry  Clay  recalls  a  career  which  was 
prominent  and  continuous  for  nearly  half  a  century.  It 
was  too  pronounced  in  its  statesmanship  not 
to  elicit  a  variety  of  testimony  with  regard 
to  his  political  aims,  but,  as  in  all  such  cases,  the 
truth  lies  midway  between  extremes.  With  respect  to 
his  eloquence,  however,  the  tributes  of  contemporaries 
are  more  concordant.  It  was  for  its  kind  unsurpassed, 
and,  considering  the  advantages  of  education  and  training 
of  which  he  was  deprived,  it  was  phenomenal.     The  son 


390  American  Literature 

of  a  Baptist  minister  who  left  him  the  best  inheritance 
that  can  be  transmitted  to  a  youth  of  political  ambitions, 
a  good  voice  and  impressive  delivery,  the  young  lawyer, 
who  had  received  his  academic  education  in  a  log  cabin 
school  and  his  graduate  course  in  a  grocery  store,  began 
professional  life  as  clerk  in  a  chancery  court.  After  four 
years  of  recording  decisions  he  was  granted  license  to 
practise  in  Kichmond,  where  he  established  a  school  of 
oratory  in  the  form  of  a  debating  club.  At  the  age  of 
twenty-one  he  opened  an  office  in  Lexington,  Kentucky, 
and  was  soon  full  of  business  and  on  the  high  road  to 
politics.  His  oratorical  ability  helped  him  to  win  in  a 
contest  where  his  opponent's  speech  was  followed  by 
deafening  applause,  but  his  own  by  profound  and  im- 
pressive silence.  From  1806  to  1811  he  was  in  the 
House  of  Kepresentatives  or  the  Senate  at  Washington, 
where  he  continued  with  short  interruptions  until  he  was 
seventy-three. 

Of  necessity  his  oratory  was  political  and  deliberative, 
with  an  honesty  and  sincerity  that  carried  somewhat 
r,   ,.*•      e     of  his  own  convictions  to  all  who  heard  him 

Qualities  of 

His  Speech,  gp^^k.  Off  the  line  of  these  strong  convictions 
he  could  not  be  eloquent.  Along  that  line  he  was  able 
to  inspire  others  with  his  own  fearless  sentiments  and 
hopeful  expectations.  Even  his  opponents  were  ready  to 
acknowledge  the  straightforward  honesty  of  his  speech. 
This  was  clear  in  statement  and  addressed  to  the  common 
sense  of  his  hearers.  His  own  antecedents  favored  such 
sympathetic  knowledge  of  their  limitations,  and  he  made 
himself  understood  by  the  average  man. 

Besides  the  sincerity  and  lucidity  of  his  discourse, 
there  was  an  earnestness  which  goes   for  much,  even 


Southern  Orators  391 

when  a  speaker  is  neither  clear  nor  sincere.  Added  to 
these  qualities,  there  is  little  needed  to  make  him  effec- 
tive. The  tremendous  energy  of  Clay  is  one  of  the  tradi- 
tions of  his  eloquence.  And  with  it  and  his  other  cardinal 
points  of  speech  went  also  a  majestic  presence,  a  wonder- 
ful voice,  a  gracious  and  commanding  manner,  winning, 
overawing,  and  inspiring.  Contemporaries  tell  of  assem- 
blies breathless  as  they  listened,  and  wild  with  enthusiasm, 
carried  away  with  stormy  emotions,  and  overwhelming 
him  with  expressions  of  pride  and  affection  when  he  had 
finished. 

When  his  speeches  passed  into  printed  pages  they 
necessarily  lost  much  of  the  personal  power  which  went 
with  the  magnetic  orator,  but  they  have  the  conservative 
element  which  makes  them  oratorical  literature.  They 
bear  well  the  test  of  much  rehearsing  in  the  schools  and 
of  frequent  reading  by  the  student  of  eloquence  and  of 
our  political  history.  The  issues  are  dead  which  called 
them  forth,  but  so  are  those  which  have  from  time  to 
time  inspired  the  loftiest  utterances  of  greatest  speakers, 
from  the  Attic  age  to  that  in  which  Henry  Clay  and  his 
compeers  lived.  Their  eloquence  is  embalmed  each  in 
its  own  language,  and  is  an  important  element  in  the 
literatures  of  the  nations. 

A  passage  from  Clay's  reply  to  Randolph's  speech  on 
the  Tariff,  already  quoted,  may  be  given  as  well  as  any 
to  illustrate  his  attitude  toward  the  Constitution  and  the 
question  at  issue. 

"  Our  convictions,  mutually  honest,  are  equally  strong.  "What 
is  to  be  done  t  I  invoke  that  saving  spirit  of  mutual  concession 
under  which  our  blessed  Constitution  was  formed,  and  under 
which  alone  it  can  be  administered.     I  appeal  to  the  South  — 


39^  American  Literature 

to  the  high-minded,  generous,  and  patriotic  South  —  with  which 
I  have  so  often  cooperated  in  attempting  to  sustain  the  honor 
and  vindicate  the  rights  of  our  country.  Should  it  not  offer 
upon  the  altar  of  the  public  good  some  sacrifice  of  its  peculiar 
opinions  1  Of  what  does  it  complain?  A  possible  temporary 
enhancement  in  the  objects  of  consumption.  Of  what  do  we 
complain  ?  A  total  incapacity  to  purchase  at  any  price  necessary 
foreign  objects  of  consumption.  In  such  an  alternative,  incon- 
venient only  to  it,  but  ruinous  to  us,  can  we  expect  too  much 
from  Southern  magnanimity?  To  the  friends  of  the  tariff  I 
would  also  anxiously  appeal.  Every  arrangement  of  its  pro- 
visions does  not  suit  each  of  you;  you  desire  some  further 
alterations ;  you  would  make  it  perfect.  You  want  what  you 
will  never  get.  Nothing  human  is  perfect.  Let  us  imitate  the 
illustrious  example  of  the  framers  of  the  Constitution  and, 
always  remembering  that  whatever  springs  from  man  partakes 
of  his  imperfections,  depend  upon  experience  to  suggest  in  future 
the  necessary  amendments." 

The  name  of  John  C.  Calhoun  is  naturally  recalled 
next  to  that  of  Henry  Clay.  A  graduate  of  Yale  College 
johnc.  ^  1804,  and  subsequently  a  law  student  in 

Calhoun.  Litchfield,  he  cultivated  extemporary  speaking 
with  great  diligence  and  success.  Perhaps  as  a  conse- 
quence he  was  elected  to  the  legislature  of  his  native 
South  Carolina  upon  his  return  home,  and  to  Congress 
after  he  had  been  but  nine  years  out  of  college.  Ques- 
tions arising  out  of  the  war  of  1812,  the  national  bank, 
tariff,  nullification,  and  finally  of  slavery  successively 
occupied  his  attention.  It  was  a  stormy  period,  when 
the  Eepublic  was  adjusting  itself  to  sectional  differences 
of  policy,  which  were  not  diminished  by  diversity  of 
opinion  between  political  leaders.  But  this  very  antag- 
onism called  out  the  utmost  resources  of  party  chiefs 
and  patriots.     The  battle  had  to  be  fought  by  oral  dis- 


Southern  Orators  393 

cussion  before  the  people  first  as  the  source  of  power,  and 
then  before  their  representatives  and  the  executors  of 
their  will. 

It  was  before  the  legislative  rather  than  the  popular 
assembly  that  Calhoun  was  at  his  best.  He  was  more 
severely  logical  than  impassioned,  dignified  character- 
rather  than  inspiring.  If  his  premises  were  ^^^^^' 
accepted,  escape  from  his  conclusions  was  difficult,  and 
there  was  no  suspicion  that  he  was  not  sincere  in  his 
convictions.  His  earnestness  conveyed  these  to  other 
men  with  undiminished  force.  His  generalizations  were 
bold,  even  reckless  at  times,  and  his  exaggerations  were 
often  absurd,  as  is  the  case  with  most  orators  when  over- 
mastered by  their  purpose.  It  was  then  that  he  became 
most  eloquent.  But  oftenest  the  qualities  of  profundity, 
solidity,  breadth,  and  clearness  chiefly  prevailed.  A  nat- 
ural logician  of  analytic  temper,  he  could  make  his  own 
position  strong  while  exposing  the  weak  points  of  an 
adversary's  position.  Discussing  the  relations  between 
cause  and  effect,  he  was  quick  to  see  combinations  which 
were  efficient  and  advantageous. 

In  the  manner  and  method  of  his  speech  he  was  direct 
and  plain.  His  thoughts  were  well  arranged  in  his  mind 
and  his  resources  were  at  ready  command.  They  usually 
gathered  around  a  few  simple  propositions.  He  often 
began  in  a  modest  and  quiet  way,  but  grew  loud  and 
shrill  in  voice  and  intensely  energetic  in  action  as  his 
subject  moved  him.  It  was  not  like  the  oratory  of  a 
Southern  speaker  so  much  as  of  the  logical  Scotch  race 
from  which  he  was  descended.  But  the  causes  he  advo- 
cated had  need  of  demonstrative  argument  more  than  the 
ardor  of  advocacy  and  the  adornment  of  imagery.     In 


394  American  Literature 

Congress  he  had  to  deal  with  men  in  whom  the  reason- 
ing powers  were  not  lacking  and  to  meet  them  on  their 
own  ground. 

The  following  sentences  from  his  speech  on  the  Force 
Bill  illustrate  his  political  belief  and  his  method  of 
declaring  it: 

"  I  go  on  the  ground  that  this  Constitution  was  made  by  the 
States ;  that  it  is  a  federal  union  of  the  States,  in  which  the 
several  States  still  retain  their  sovereignty.  It  wiU  be  apparent 
that  the  question  in  controversy  involves  that  most  deeply  im- 
portant of  all  political  questions,  whether  ours  is  a  federal  or 
a  consolidated  government  —  a  question  on  the  decision  of  which 
depend  the  liberty  of  the  people,  their  happiness,  and  the  place 
we  are  destined  to  hold  in  the  moral  and  intellectual  scale  of 
nations.  Never  was  there  a  controversy  in  which  more  impor- 
tant consequences  were  involved.  One  section  of  the  country  is 
the  natural  guardian  of  the  delegated  powers  and  the  other  of 
the  reserved,  and  the  struggle  on  the  side  of  the  former  will 
be  to  enlarge  the  powers,  while  that  on  the  opposite  side  will  be 
to  restrain  them  within  their  constitutional  limits.  The  contest 
will  be  a  contest  between  power  and  liberty  —  a  contest  in 
which  the  weaker  section,  with  its  peculiar  labor  productions 
and  institutions,  has  at  stake  all  that  can  be  dear  to  freemen. 
I  do  not  repine  that  the  duty,  so  difficult  to  be  discharged,  of 
defending  the  reserved  powers  against  such  fearful  odds  has 
been  assigned  to  us.  To  discharge  it  successfully  requires  the 
highest  qualities,  moral  and  intellectual,  and  should  we  perform 
it  with  a  zeal  and  ability  proportioned  to  its  magnitude  instead 
of  mere  planters,  our  section  will  become  distinguished  for  its 
patriots  and  statesmen.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  if  we  yield  to 
the  steady  encroachments  of  power,  the  severest  calamity  and 
most  debasing  corruption  will  overspread  the  land." 

It  is  interesting  after  the  lapse  of  two-thirds  of  a  century 
to  observe  how  far  these  statesman-prophets  divined  truly 


Southern  Orators  395 

the  outcome  of  the  contests  in  which  they  engaged.  It  is 
evident  that  they  had  many  forebodings  for  the  future, 
but  these  were  always  connected  with  nonconformity  to 
their  own  political  precepts.  As  this  was  common  even 
in  their  own  day,  there  were  many  gloomy  predictions  on 
all  sides.  The  conviction  of  coming  disaster  grew 
stronger  and  more  widespread,  but  when  it  came  it  was 
not  exactly  in  the  manner  nor  for  the  reason  most  fre- 
quently and  publicly  assigned  by  the  orators  thus  far 
mentioned.  The  closer  they  kept  to  the  enunciation  of 
general  principles  and  general  predictions  the  nearer  they 
were  to  the  final  event.  When  they  began  to  particu- 
larize they  failed,  like  all  modern  prophets.  But  the  proph- 
ecies themselves  were  often  sublime  and  eloquent  and 
a  noble  part  of  the  literature  of  the  country.  They  dealt 
with  great  and  vital  themes,  and  in  their  composition  and 
utterance  were  worthy  of  the  vast  questions  which  they 
discussed. 


XXXIV 

NORTHERN  ORATORS 

The  stream  of  deliberative  oratory  which  had  been  rising 
for  half  a  century  reached  its  high-water  mark  in  the 
Daniel  cloquence  of  Daniel  Webster.     To   trace   the 

Webster.  causc  of  his  preeminence  has  been  the  under- 
taking of  one  biographer  after  another,  with  the  repeated 
admission  that  the  gift  of  genius  for  public  speech  is  the 
best  explanation  of  his  surpassing  powers.  Certainly 
there  were  few  artificial  aids  to  his  success.  A  farmer's 
boy  attending  the  district  school,  Exeter  Academy,  and 
Dartmouth  College  in  those  days,  might  have  gone  back 
to  the  farm  without  so  much  learning  or  cultivation  as 
to  make  him  useless  as  a  tiller  of  New  Hampshire  soil. 
On  the  other  hand,  he  received  more  than  the  other  two 
of  the  trio  with  whose  names  his  own  is  always  asso- 
ciated, both  of  native  endowment  and  of  acquired  educa- 
tion. These  possessions  he  began  to  turn  to  account  at 
an  early  day.  First  in  the  inevitable  Fourth  of  July 
oration  which  every  town  listened  to  once  a  year,  Hano- 
ver, New  Hampshire,  and  Fryeburg,  Maine,  getting  the 
benefit  of  his  earliest  efforts,  such  as  they  were.  Of  them 
and  those  which  closely  followed,  it  can  be  said  that  they 
were  better  in  promise  than  in  performance,  and  more 
suited  to  the  inflated  tone  of  the  first  quarter  of  the 
century  than  to  its  close.  It  was  an  age  when  anniver- 
sary eloquence  was  accustomed  to  mount  up  with  wings  as 
eagles. 

396 


Northern  Orators  397 

Webster  shed  his  academic  feathers  in  the'  years  when 
he  came  to  be  associated  with  the  ablest  advocates,  jurists, 
and  statesmen  in  New  England.  From  them  he  learned 
that  an  important  fact  needs  little  else  than  clear  state- 
ment, and  that  too  much  adornment  is  no  ornament  to 
a  truth.  Henceforth  his  words  no  longer  vaguely  con- 
veyed immature  conceptions.  He  found  the  strength  and 
worth  of  common  words  rightly  placed.  His  statement 
of  a  case  was  often  a  defence  in  itself,  making  further 
discussion  almost  needless.  In  homespun  English  he 
would  talk  to  twelve  jurymen  as  a  man  to  his  neighbors, 
or  as  one  of  them  to  another  about  the  particular  case 
in  their  mutual  keeping,  to  see  if  everything  pointed  in 
one  direction.  It  seemed  the  most  natural  thing  in  the 
world  to  agree  with  this  most  reasonable  man,  who  made 
his  own  conclusion  appear  to  be  the  only  possible  one 
to  be  gathered  from  every  sign  and  circumstance.  The 
trial  of  the  Keniston  brothers  and  of  Joseph  White  are 
illustrative  instances. 

In  the  superior  courts  and  in  the  supreme  court  of  the 
United  States  he  exhibited  the  larger  grasp  of  principles 
and  a  marvellous  insight  to  discuss  at  once  the  po^ensic 
decisive  points  of  a  fact  and  law.  And  some-  ^^o<»"«"<*- 
times  he  added  the  force  of  emotional  appeal  based  upon 
distinctions  between  right  and  wrong,  not  as  abstractions, 
but  as  vital  elements  in  human  conduct.  The  celebrated 
Dartmouth  College  case  was  an  example  of  such  an 
appeal. 

At  the  age  of  thirty-one  he  was  sent  to  Congress.  His 
success  in  the  larger  domain  of  statesmanship  was  soon 
a  foregone  conclusion.  The  greatness  of  his  intellect  had 
found  its  adequate  field,  and  to  the  principles  which  he 


39^  American  Literature 

believed  most  important  he  devoted  his  energy  and  talent. 
His  comprehensive  views  embraced  the  welfare  of  the 
entire  nation ;  at  the  same  time  he  attempted  only  that 
which  was  attainable.  On  such  a  practical  yet  broad 
basis  he  stood  for  that  which  was  national  and  permanent, 
rather  than  sectional  and  temporary. 

In  the  great  debate  with  Hayne  he  made  it  clear  to  all 

that  the  nation  is  greater  than  any  state  and  all  the  states 

together,  a  proposition  whose  truth  was  sub- 

unionand       sequcntly   established.     The   occasion   of  the 

Constitution.  .        .  , 

second  reply  was  dramatic  m  the  interest 
which  attended  its  delivery.  The  dignitaries  of  many 
nations  and  the  notables  of  our  own  had  assembled  to 
listen  to  the  great  constitutional  lawyer  and  orator 
&<i  he  made  what,  all  in  all,  is  regarded  as  the  greatest 
speech  of  modern  times.  There  is  no  room  here  for 
even  an  outline  of  its  four  hours  of  argument  and  illus- 
tration in  defence  of  the  principles  of  the  Constitution. 
It  was  characterized  by  fairness  toward  his  opponent, 
but  also  by  consciousness  of  strength  in  his  own  position. 
He  showed  that  the  origin  of  this  government  and  the 
source  of  its  power  is  with  the  people,  anticipating 
Lincoln's  aphorism  in  these  words,  which  place  the  origi- 
nality of  their  first  utterance  where  it  belongs :  "  It  is, 
sir,  the  people's  Constitution,  the  people's  government, 
made  for  the  people,  made  by  the  people,  and  answerable 
to  the  people."  The  entire  speech  is  full  of  profound 
reasoning.  As  he  himself  said  of  Samuel  Dexter,  but 
with  deeper  meaning :  "  Aloof  from  technicality  and 
unfettered  by  artificial  rule  a  question  of  constitutional 
law  gave  opportunity  for  that  deep  and  clear  analysis, 
that   mighty  grasp    of    principle  which    so   much  dis- 


Northern  Orators  399 

tinguished  his  higher  efforts.  His  very  statement  was 
argument.  His  inference  seemed  demonstration.  The 
earnestness  of  his  own  conviction  wrought  conviction  in 
others.  One  was  convinced  because  it  was  gratifying 
and  -delightful  to  think  and  feel  and  believe  in  unison 
with  an  intellect  of  such  evident  superiority."  This 
was  truer  of  Webster  because  he  was  the  greater  man. 
The  directness  of  his  purpose,  the  irresistible  sweep  of 
his  argument,  his  perspicuity  and  energy,  his  vigor  of 
reasoning  and  felicity  of  diction,  his  calm  statement  and 
forceful  appeal,  the  power  of  his  voice  and  the  majesty 
of  his  presence  combined  to  place  him  in  the  foremost 
ranks  of  eloquent  men  and  crown  him  as  the  chief  of 
American  orators. 

Halls  of  legislation  have  not  afforded  the  only  oppor- 
tunity for  the  exercise  of  oratorical  gifts.  As  often  as  in 
them  our  great  speakers  have  found  in  civic  occasional 
occasions  an  inspiration  to  noble  and  patriotic  ^"^^'y- 
sentiments.  Such  were  the  anniversaries  of  the  landing 
of  the  Pilgrims  and  of  the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill  to 
Webster,  and  the  orations  pronounced  by  him  were 
masterpieces  of  commemorative  eloquence.  These,  how- 
ever, were  the  by-product  of  his  oratory. 

The  man  who  made  the  occasional  address  almost  the 
business  of  his  life  was  Edward  Everett.  First  of  all,  he 
was  a  scholar,  delivering  lectures  upon  Greek  E<j^ard 
literature  in  Cambridge  and  Boston  after  three  ^^^""• 
years'  residence  and  study  abroad.  As  editor  of  the 
"North  American  Keview"  he  did  much  to  promote  a 
sort  of  revival  of  learning  period  in  the  country.  At  the 
age  of  thirty  he  delivered  before  an  immense  audience  a 
characteristic  address  upon  "  Circumstances  Favorable  to 

\ 


400  American  Literature 

the  Progress  of  Literature  in  America."  Contemporary 
testimony  to  the  marvellous  skill  and  power  of  the 
orator  is  strong.  "  The  sympathies  of  the  audience  went 
with  him  as  he  painted  in  glowing  hues  the  political, 
social,  and  literary  future  of  our  country,  and  at  the  con- 
clusion his  hearers  were  left  in  a  state  of  emotion  far  too 
deep  for  tumultuous  applause."  Elected  to  Congress  this 
very  year  he  became  a  frequent  but  not  obtrusive  debater 
and  distinguished  himself  in  diplomacy ;  but  his  proper 
field  was  wherever  he  could  address  an  intelligent  assem- 
bly on  subjects  relating  to  the  higher  politics  or  a  broader 
education.  He  was  one  of  the  great  educators  of  the 
people  from  the  platform  in  a  time  when  they  needed 
instruction  in  constitutional  liberty  —  a  people  who  have 
been  said  to  "  present  the  anomaly  of  being  political  in 
their  tastes  and  habits  without  having  a  political  educa- 
tion. "  What  colleges  now  partially  supply,  the  speakers 
of  the  former  time  and  their  speeches,  read  in  every 
school,  disseminated.  Boys  came  to  know  them  by  heart, 
as  they  did  their  catechism,  long  before  they  compre- 
hended their  meaning. 

A  similar  service  was  performed  by  Everett  in  the 
direction  of  a  literary  style.  He  furnished  a  creditable 
Oratorical  example  to  follow  in  the  days  when  imitation 
^'^'  of  English  models  was  common.     It  was  for- 

tunate that  a  man  of  the  best  attainments  could  give  an 
object  lesson  here  and  there  in  composition  and  public 
speaking.  He  inspired  many  men  who  became  distin- 
guished in  the  last  generation  by  the  purity  and  classic 
grace  of  such  English  as  he  constructed  out  of  the  wealth 
of  his  resources.  And  everywhere  and  always  there  was 
unfailing  harmony  between  the  speaker,  the  subject,  and 


Northern  Orators  401 

the  occasion.  Symmetry  and  fitness  are  constant  ele- 
ments in  the  high  art  of  his  eloquence.  His  words  seem 
the  only  ones  that  exactly  correspond  to  his  thoughts, 
and  not  a  syllable  can  be  spared  from  the  rhythm  of  his 
best  passages.  They  are  works  of  art  almost  as  Grecian 
as  those  of  the  Attic  orators.  Yet  he  was  by  no  means  a 
mere  rhetorician.  His  good  sense  kept  him  from  sacrific- 
ing everything  to  form.  He  knew  when  to  be  plain  in 
speech  as  well  as  when  to  be  ornate. 

The  result  of  a  lifetime  of  such  speaking  was  left  in  a 
body  of  occasional  addresses  which  would  have  been 
creditable  to  any  of  the  Hellenic  Ten.  Chief  among 
these  orations  must  be  reckoned  the  eulogy  upon  "Wash- 
ington, delivered  upon  one  hundred  and  fifty  occasions 
and  earning  for  the  Mount  Vernon  fund  $53,000 ;  to 
which  Everett  added  $10,000  more  from  the  earnings  of 
his  pen.  This  production,  too,  is  a  work  of  art,  marking 
the  highest  reach  of  eulogistic  discourse  and  illustrating 
the  great  advance  that  had  been  made  from  the  stilted 
and  fantastic  displays  of  two  previous  centuries.  Other 
examples  by  the  same  author  are  modestly  listed  in  his 
works  as  "Remarks"  upon  one  and  another  celebrity, 
as  Hallam  and  Humboldt,  Irving  and  Prescott,  Hale 
and  Quincy,  Webster  and  Lincoln,  and  others.  In  the 
address  at  the  consecration  of  the  national  cemetery  at 
Gettysburg  heroic  memories  like  those  of  Marathon  are 
revived  in  the  spirit  of  Periclean  eloquence. 

Webster  and  Everett  are  the  two  names  which  stand 
for  supreme  achievement  in  forensic  and  occasional  ora- 
tory. Their  achievements  have  become  a  part  of  the 
noblest  in  our  literature,  if  profound  and  beautiful 
thoughts    clothed    in    appropriate    language    constitute 

26 


402  American  Literature 

literature.  But  the  field  is  wide  enough  for  other  speak- 
ers also,  who,  in  their  several  ways,  have  distinguished 
themselves  and  contributed  to  the  volume  of  what  has 
been  both  written  and  spoken. 

Eufus  Choate  was  the  third  in  the  order  of  time. 
Preeminently  an  advocate,  he  was  moreover  a  man  of 
Rufus  letters  and  always  a  student  of  subjects  out- 

choate.  ^-^^  j^-^  p^ofession.     On  such  topics  he  was 

eloquent  with  constructive  power  and  manifold  art.  In 
the  technicalities  of  disposing  material  for  unity,  of 
proportion  and  harmony,  of  the  illumination  by  imagery, 
he  showed  the  hand  of  a  master.  Had  he  confined  his 
efforts  to  literary,  social,  and  political  subjects,  he  would 
have  been  preeminent  as  an  instructor  of  the  people 
from  the  platform.  Such  addresses  as  that  on  "The 
Eloquence  of  Eevolutionary  Periods"  and  similar  ones 
growing  out  of  our  early  history  are  alive  with  instruc- 
tion and  inspiration.  In  their  time  they  contributed  to 
the  stock  of  controlling  ideas  which  have  gone  with  the 
New  Englander  into  every  part  of  the  land,  and  have 
helped  to  make  the  nation  what  it  is  and  to  prevent  it 
becoming  what  as  yet  it  is  not. 

Charles  Sumner's  academic  orations,  as  apart  from  his 
political  and  congressional  speeches,  will  always  have  a 
Charles  charm  for  scholarly  persons  who  delight  in 

Sumner.  observing  how  the  spoils  of  classical  literature 
can  be  woven  into  the  fabric  of  modern  discourse.  This 
was  the  habit  of  our  scholars  as  far  back  as  the  pre- 
Revolution  age  and  before,  but  in  a  crude  and  clumsy 
way.  Sumner  conformed  more  nearly  to  an  Augustan 
manner,  and  as  a  noble  Roman  might  have  followed  a 
Greek  example.     Opulence   of  learning  is   everywhere 


Northern  Orators  403 

apparent.  He  who  can  trace  all  this  orator's  allusions 
will  have  had  a  liberal  education.  History  and  mythol- 
ogy, fiction  and  the  drama,  the  poets  and  orators  of  every 
country,  made  his  discourse  a  cloth  of  gold  and  gems  in 
its  barbaric  splendor.  Within  the  turning  of  a  leaf  are 
contributions  from  Plutarch  and  Livy,  Homer  and  Dante, 
Virgil  and  the  Troubadour,  Hobbes  and  Sir  Thomas 
Browne,  Bacon  and  Vattel.  Another  turn  brings  up 
Hesiod  and  Anacreon,  Herodotus  and  Froissart,  Sismondi, 
Montesquieu,  Liutprand  and  Muratori,  the  dicta  of  the 
Christian  Fathers,  the  superstitions  of  mediaeval  doc- 
tors, the  sayings  of  BrantSme,  Malte-Brun  and  Mme. 
S^vign^.  Such  wealth  of  illustration  was  poured  forth 
with  lavish  hand  upon  his  addresses,  entitled  "The 
True  Grandeur  of  Nations,"  "The  Employment  of  Time" 
and  "White  Slavery  in  the  Barbary  States."  A  sim- 
ilar opulence  characterizes  his  deliberative  oratory  in 
Congress,  but  its  appropriate  sphere  was  the  academic 
occasion. 

Wendell  Phillips  was  more  severely  Greek  in  his 
apparently  extemporaneous  lectures  than  most  men  are 
in  their  written  discourse.  There  was  no  hint  wendeu 
of  memorizing  and  no  hesitation  or  haste  in  ^***"*p*- 
his  delivery.  Conversational  in  the  tones  of  his  voice, 
but  never  colloquial  in  diction,  he  carried  his  auditors  on 
the  steady,  irresistible  flow  of  his  speech  to  conclusions 
against  which  their  common  sense  sometimes  rebelled 
when  they  came  to  themselves.  In  subsequent  years 
they  discovered  that  the  tide  of  events  had  drifted  them 
to  the  positions  to  which  he  had  led  them  as  in  a  dream 
in  the  days  when  they  had  called  him  hard  names.  But 
the  memory  of  his  speech,  unaccountable  in  its  power. 


404  American  Literature 

will  always  remain  with  the  generation  that  came  under 
its  magic  spell. 

George  William  Curtis,  as  both  orator  and  journalist, 
represents   the  combination  of  the  two  methods  of  in- 


Georee  wu-  structiug  and  influencing  the  populace.  Some 
uam  Curtis.  ^Quld  Say  the  transition  from  one  to  the  other, 
the  surrender  of  the  platform  to  the  press,  but  the  abdica- 
tion is  not  yet  complete  enough  to  warrant  this  assertion. 
Throughout  his  life  Curtis  was  an  accomplished  speaker, 
as  well  as  an  able  and  skilful  editor,  and  may  still  stand  for 
the  union  of  voice  and  pen  in  forming  popular  sentiment. 
He  began  with  academic  addresses  to  the  youth  who  were 
going  out  from  college  into  the  responsibilities  of  citizen- 
ship. In  1856  he  delivered  a  characteristic  Commencement 
oration  on  "  The  Duty  of  the  American  Scholar  to  Politics 
and  the  Times."  It  was  a  topic  on  which  he  often  spoke 
and  wrote  in  after  years,  verging  more  and  more  toward 
political  duties  as  the  interests  at  stake  became  momentous 
in  war  time.  But  he  also  remained  the  scholar  in  his 
conduct  of  periodicals  of  which  he  was  editor  and  in  the 
addresses  which  he  left  his  office  to  go  out  and  make  from 
time  to  time,  sometimes  in  places  of  personal  danger  from 
an  excited  mob.  Then  he  was  the  man  of  unflinching 
courage,  often  turning  the  yells  of  faction  into  shouts  of 
enthusiastic  applause  before  he  finisjied.  The  reserve 
forces  of  such  a  man  and  others  who  stemmed  the  fury  of 
audiences  in  that  stormy  time  belong  to  the  inspirations 
of  literary  biography.  They  illustrate  the  fact  that  the 
heroism  which  faces  an  angry  crowd  alone  and  unprotected 
may  be  as  true  as  that  which  is  found  in  the  ranks  of 
soldiery.  Incidentally,  also,  is  exhibited  the  power  of  the 
human  mind  and  voice  and  presence  over  the  wayward. 


Northern  Orators  405 

headstrong  multitude  which  nothing  else  can  control. 
Certainly  the  transcript  of  such  words  of  power  ought  to 
be  reckoned  among  the  treasures  of  literature.  If  so,  the 
utterances  of  our  own  orators  are  among  the  best  examples 
of  American  letters. 


XXXV 

LOCAL  FICTION 

The  Civil  War,  like  the  two  which  preceded  it,  had  no 
immediate  effect  upon  our  literature.  Some  of  the  older 
After  the  Writers  were  drawn  aside  for  an  occasional 
^**"*  poem,  address,  or  magazine  article  upon  some 

phase  of  the  contest,  hut  the  few  books  of  note  published 
between  1861  and  1865,  inclusive,  were  not  out  of  the 
usual  course  of  production  in  fiction,  travel,  biography,  and 
history.  Immediately  after  the  war  there  was  little  to 
indicate  that  its  turmoil  had  greatly  disturbed  the  literary 
atmosphere.  A  few  war  stories  and  many  war  papers 
sprung  up  like  new  weeds  after  a  forest  fire,  precursors  of 
a  later  growth  of  military  history,  biography,  and  romance. 
But  in  the  main  older  authors  returned  to  the  familiar 
ruts,  and  younger  ones,  with  a  few  exceptions,  did  not 
drive  far  afield. 

Meantime,  as  the  last  third  of  the  century  wore  on, 
readers  multiplied  exceedingly.  The  mid-century  writers 
had  created  a  literature  which  educated  the  nation  to  a 
taste  for  the  best.  Peace  and  returning  prosperity  brought 
leisure  and  means  to  gratify  it,  stimulating  the  demand 
for  more  than  the  Cambridge  group  or  any  other  could 
supply.  New  aspirants  appeared  and  were  encouraged  by 
new  publishing  enterprises.  Some  of  them  were  passed 
on  to  seats  among  the  mighty ;  more  of  them  had  their 
little  day  and  fell  out  of  the  procession. 

406 


Local  Fiction  407 

It  would  be  strange  if  a  few  were  not  conspicuous  when 
so  many  felt  called  to  write.  Authors  now  becoming 
classic  who  were  finishing  their  work  had  come  out  of  no 
such  swarms  of  competitors.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
throng  of  latter-day  penmen  sent  no  such  representatives 
to  the  front.  Had  an  age  of  reflection  and  criticism  set 
in  as  usual  after  one  of  original  production  ?  Certainly 
one  of  demand  had  arrived :  first  for  fiction.  A  busy  and 
anxious  day  was  over,  and  like  children  everybody  was 
saying,  "  Tell  us  a  story." 

Some  of  the  earliest  were  written  by  a  young  man  of 
great  promise  who  fell  in  the  first  battle  of  the  war.  Theo- 
dore Winthrop  of  New  York  could  count  seven  Theodore 
presidents  of  Yale  among  his  ancestors  besides  ^*°*^'^°p- 
Jonathan  Edwards  of  Princeton,  and  the  younger  Winthrop, 
the  well-read  first  governor  of  Connecticut.  It  would  not 
have  been  like  Theodore  to  fall  back  upon  his  forefathers, 
but  literary  tastes  do  not  die  out,  even  if  they  skip  a 
generation  now  and  then.  They  blossomed  early  in  this 
one.  Scholarships  and  prizes  came  to  him  in  college  with 
the  habit  of  composition  and  of  story-telling  with  the  pen. 
Yet  he  waited  long  for  recognition.  It  was  just  beginning 
to  be  accorded  when  he  wrote  a  description  of  the  march 
of  the  Seventh  Eegiment  of  New  York  to  "Washington. 
For  him  this  was  a  leave-taking  of  a  promising  career  and 
a  march  to  a  heroic  death.  Then  readers  began  to  call  for 
anything  he  had  written  and  laid  away  until  the  time  of 
appreciation  should  come.  Five  books  were  published  in 
rapid  succession.  "  Cecil  Dreeme "  was  the  first,  a  story 
of  bohemian  life  in  and  around  the  old  university  building 
in  New  York  city,  such  as  a  graduate  student  might  work 
into  the  chinks  of  more  pretentious  study  —  if  he  had  the 


4oB  American  Literature 

rare  ability.  Then  came  "  John  Brent,"  the  outgrowth  of 
a  run  through  California  and  Oregon  as  far  as  Puget  Sound. 
It  was  in  the  manner  of  mountain  and  prairie  fiction, 
which  when  well  done  never  loses  its  charm  for  either 
American  or  English  readers.  This  example  of  it  belongs 
to  the  best  of  its  class,  and  is  a  graphic  picture  of  roving 
life  on  the  plains  in  the  days  of  the  Indian  and  the  emi- 
grant, the  buffalo,  and  the  wild  horse.  Other  outdoor 
books  of  this  breezy  man  are  the  "  Canoe  and  Saddle  "  and 
*'  Life  in  the  Open  Air,"  wholesome  sketches  for  boys  of 
all  ages,  books  to  read  in  camp  on  rainy  days  or  at  home 
when  the  woods  are  full  of  mosquitoes  and  malaria.  There 
is  no  malaria  in  these  volumes,  and  their  place  is  with  the 
balsamic  books  of  healthful  adventure  which  are  doing 
much  to  counteract  the  overstudious  and  commercial  ten- 
dencies of  our  time. 

Edward  Eggleston  wrote  of  frontier  life  in  the  nearer 
West  of  Indiana,  before  successive  waves  of  emigration 
Edward  ^^^  crossed  the  plains.  "The  Hoosier  School- 
^s^^^^on.  n^aster,"  «  The  Circuit  Eider,"  "  The  End  of  the 
World,"  "The  Mystery  of  MetropolisviUe "  and  half  a 
dozen  other  stories  wiU  preserve  the  features  of  early 
western  life  in  all  its  hardship,  poverty,  and  aspiration. 
They  are  the  annals  of  pathbreakers  in  a  wilderness  where 
a  bare  existence  was  nearly  all  that  could  be  attained, 
narrow  and  meagre  at  that.  But  pioneers  must  go  before 
those  who  easily  follow,  and  their  work  is  not  to  be 
despised  because  it  was  done  in  narrow  lines,  heavily  and 
drearily.  The  honor  they  deserve  is  greater  than  the  mirth 
they  provoke. 

Francis  Bret  Harte  was  a  portrayer  of  something  rougher 
than  prairie  life.     The   half-civilized  conditions  which 


Local  Fiction  409 

sprung  up  after  the  rush  to  California  in  '49  found  in  him 
a  faithful  chronicler.  A  new  and  fresh  field  was  pre- 
empted by  an  enterprising  prospector.  He  had 
been  preceded  by  Bayard  Taylor  in  his  "  Eldo- 
rado "  and  "  Ehymes  of  Travel,"  who  drove  a  stake  or  two 
and  passed  on.  In  twenty  years  mining  camps  and  towns 
became  a  feature  of  remote  American  enterprise,  and  in 
the  pages  of  the  "Overland  Monthly,"  started  in  1868,  the 
editor,  who  had  been  miner,  schoolmaster,  and  compositor 
in  turn,  began  to  depict  what  he  had  seen.  After  his  in- 
troduction to  the  public  in  the  "  Condensed  Novels  "  and 
"Poems,"  his  "Heathen  Chinee"  created  an  immense 
demand  for  more  of  the  new  brand.  That  "  childlike  and 
bland"  son  of  the  morning  in  successful  rivalry  with 
western  sharpers  was  a  picture  to  amuse  anybody  who 
could  call  himself  eastern,  though  he  should  hail  from 
Salt  Lake.  No  one  but  Truthful  James  and  Bill  Nye 
could  keep  a  sober  face  at  — 

"  The  hands  that  were  played 
By  that  heathen  Chinee 
And  the  points  that  he  made 
Were  frightful  to  see, 
Till  at  last  he  put  down  a  right  bower 
Which  the  same  Nye  had  dealt  unto  me. 

"  Then  I  looked  up  at  Nye 
And  he  gazed  upon  me ; 
And  he  rose  with  a  sigh 
And  said :  *  Can  this  be  ? 
We  are  ruined  by  Chinese  cheap  labor,' 
And  he  went  for  that  heathen  Chinee." 

"The  Luck  of  Koaring  Camp,"  "The  Outcasts  of  Poker 
Flat,"  and  "  Tennessee's  Partner  "  exhibit  the  best  that  was 
left  in  the  rough-and-tumble  life  which  miners  and  des- 


41  o  American  Literature 

peradoes  were  leading  on  the  hills  and  in  the  gulches. 
Generosity,  chivalry,  and  a  quick  sense  of  justice  held 
their  own  amid  drunkenness,  gambling,  and  murder.  It 
was  a  return  to  primitive  existence  and  the  primitive 
code  of  every  man  for  himself  until  threatened  extinc- 
tion compelled  herding  for  self-preservation.  Such  re- 
vival of  primeval  barbarism  could  not  last  long,  but  the 
aspects  of  its  transitory  life  were  caught  as  with  a  snap- 
shot and  handed  to  the  world  to  illustrate  a  short 
chapter  of  history,  which  itself  is  repeated  on  a  smaller 
scale  upon  every  fresh  discovery  of  gold  in  the  earth. 

A  picture  of  a  different  life  in  southern  California  is 
given  in  Helen  Hunt  Jackson's  "  Ramona,"  a  story  of  the 
Htiien  Hunt  Mexican  and  the  Indian,  the  mission  and  the 
Jackson.  priest.  Also  of  "  appropriation  "  by  white  men 
of  the  land  belonging  to  the  old  inhabitants,  under  the 
decree  of  San  Francisco  courts,  according  to  the  ancient 
and  honorable  maxim  that  might  makes  right  —  cattle 
and  horses  to  be  thrown  in  to  pay  the  costs  for  stealing 
the  land  with  the  forms  of  legality.  It  was  one  of  the 
economies  of  a  paternal  government,  reminding  one  of  the 
"teeth  money"  which  the  Turks  used  to  extort  from 
Christians  to  pay  for  the  wear  and  tear  to  Mohammedan 
jaws  in  eating  provisions  taken  from  the  weaker  party. 
The  same  one-sided  generosity  toward  the  white  man 
was  set  forth  in  a  previous  book  by  the  same  author  en- 
titled "  A  Century  of  Dishonor  "  —  a  contrast  to  the  deal- 
ings of  the  first  settlers  with  the  Indians  along  the 
Atlantic  seaboard. 

From  southern  California  the  literary  wanderer  may 
travel  over  the  plains  to  New  Orleans  to  find  the  next 
picture  of  local  life  in  descriptions  of  Louisiana  Creoles  by 


Local  Fiction  411 

George  W.  Cable.  They  remind  the  reader  of  the  occupa- 
tion of  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi  by  the  French  when 
they  followed  the  great  waterways  from  Canada  Qeo„e  ^, 
to  the  Gulf  in  the  last  years  of  the  seventeenth  ^'*'^*' 
century,  and  of  the  tossing  of  the  colony  back  and  forth 
between  France  and  Spain  until  it  was  sold  by  Bonaparte 
to  the  United  States  for  $15,000,000.  Meantime  the 
mixture  of  races  developed  a  phase  of  life  and  character 
as  unique  and  distinct  as  the  Hebrew,  and  as  far  re- 
moved from  the  Northern  type  as  the  Gulf  of  Mexico 
from  Massachusetts  Bay.  Of  this  singular  people  Cable 
has  been  the  interpreter  to  the  country  in  a  series  of 
novels  whose  very  titles  indicate  a  new  discovery  of  old 
relics.  "  Old  Creole  Days,"  "  The  Grandissimes,"  ''  Mme. 
Delphine,"  "  Dr.  Sevier,"  "  The  Creoles  of  Louisiana,"  and 
others  of  kindred  sound  suggest  a  tropical,  languorous,  half- 
foreign  existence,  an  exotic  from  southern  Europe,  and 
more  southern  Africa,  transplanted  to  the  old  French  and 
Spanish  town  two  hundred  years  ago,  and  keeping  its  dis- 
tinctive features  through  all  the  changes  in  government 
and  fortune  that  have  gone  on  in  and  around  the  ancient 
city.  It  was  another  of  the  rich  and  unoccupied  fields 
of  the  continent  which  none  but  one  born  on  the  spot 
could  find  and  cultivate  with  success.  None  but  a  brave 
and  conscientious  artist  could  reveal  its  treasures  to  the 
delight  of  all  the  nation  and  the  ultimate  satisfaction  of 
the  peculiar  people  themselves.  The  drowsy  land  in 
which  they  dwell  is  a  land  of  cypress  shadows,  of  blazing 
sunlight,  of  crimson  and  purple,  of  broad  bayou  and 
majestic  river ;  and  there  are  oriental  aspects  in  the  life 
which  is  lived  amid  all  this  splendor  of  color  and  lux- 
uriance of  climate.     It  is  a  remnant  of  Romance  civiliza- 


412  American  Literature 

tion  from  the  old  world  brought  into  the  new,  that  the 
inheritance  of  this  country  from  -all  the  empires  may  be 
complete. 

Turning  northward  and  eastward,  the  Georgia  negro 
sketches  of  Joel  Chandler  Harris  bring  the  brighter  side 
Joel  Chandler  °^  plantation  life  to  the  front  in  the  wonderful 
"*^**  stories  of  Uncle  Kemus  about  Br'er  Fox  and 

Br'er  Eabbit,  with  all  the  lore  of  four-footed  tribes  that 
were  their  familiars.  The  cunning  craft  and  the  dry 
humor  and  the  instinctive  wisdom  which  appear  to  be 
shared  by  beast  and  negro  together  as  their  common 
heritage  in  lives  that  were  not  far  apart  in  aims  and 
sympathy,  are  endless  sources  of  interest  and  amusement 
to  cliildren  of  all  ages.  The  element  of  dialect  which  be- 
longs to  every  local  story  has  here  its  lion's  share  of  im- 
portance, with  the  advantage  in  favor  of  him  who  knows 
how  to  reproduce  it  faithfully,  distinguishing  the  leader 
from  the  second-rate  imitator,  who  yet  by  his  imitation 
pays  tribute  to  the  original  writer.  This  is  the  penalty 
of  originality,  visited  on  both  writer  and  reader.  No 
sooner  does  a  good  thing  appear  than  there  is  soon  too 
much  of  it,  and  the  dialect  story  is  manifolded  by  every 
writer  who  mistakes  distortion  of  good  English  for  the 
patois  of  the  district,  whether  it  be  in  Maine  or  Florida. 
The  counterfeit  of  one  section  may  be  passed  for  genuine 
far  away  in  another,  but  the  home-born  know  the  dif- 
ference and  approve  the  true  artist  and  advertise  him. 

Such  an  artist  is  found  as  one  drifts  northward  into 

Tennessee.     She  was  known  for  a  time  on  the 

No2iie»         title-pages  of  her  books  as  "Charles  Egbert 

Murfree. 

Craddock,"  now  as   Mary  Noailles  Murfree, 
the  word  painter  of  sunshine  and  storm,  of  morning  and 


Local  Fiction  413 

evening,  of  summer  and  winter  and  their  ceaseless  trans- 
formations in  the  Cumberland  Mountains.  Here  is  color 
and  every  glad  and  gloomy  shade  of  it  from  noontide  to 
midnight,  from  the  roses  of  June  to  the  drifts  of  December, 
from  cloudless  blue  to  the  blackness  of  the  tempest.  A 
patient  and  faithful  observer  of  the  wilderness  and  a 
diligent  student  of  language  has  discovered  the  correspon- 
dences between  the  two  as  between  sky  and  lake  and  has 
made  the  one  mirror  the  other.  And  against  this 
majestic  background  of  mountains  she  has  drawn  scattered 
and  lonely  clans  of  hill  people  dwelling  apart  from 
valley  towns  and  the  travelled  highways,  pursuing  their 
narrow  ideals  and  faint  aspirations  with  meagre  desires 
and  slender  hopes.  Yet  in  all  the  poverty  and  stupor  of 
a  dwarfed  existence  are  found  the  same  emotions  and 
virtues  and  vices  that  belong  to  lowlanders.  It  is  the 
manner  of  their  expression  that  interests,  strange  as  the 
modes  of  life  in  the  towering  hills,  singular  and  some- 
times as  grotesque  as  the  Boeotian  dialect  they  speak. 
But  there  is  life  enough  for  stories  of  rare  interest  and 
power  in  the  hands  of  the  writer  who  has  taken  up  this 
lonely  "  claim."  Comedy  may  be  the  prevailing  sentiment 
for  the  reader  about  a  unique  people,  but  there  is  plenty 
of  tragedy  in  the  mountain  air  as  sudden  and  violent  as 
its  own  terrific  thunderstorms.  Once  more  titles  reveal 
the  spirit  of  the  stories,  "  Drifting  Down  Lost  Creek  "  and 
the  rest  of  the  first  series ;  "  Where  the  Battle  Was 
Fought,"  "  Down  the  Kavine,"  «  The  Prophet  of  the  Great 
Smoky  Mountains"  "In  the  Clouds,"  "The  Story  of 
Keedon  Bluffs,"  "  The  Despot  of  Broomsedge  Cove,"  "  The 
Stranger  People's  Country,"  "  The  Phantom  of  the  Foot- 
bridge," "  His  Vanished  Star,"  and  others.     Together  they 


414  American  Literature 

picture  a  region  and  a  people  which  remind  the  reader  of 
the  vast  diversity  of  life  and  scenery  that  belongs  to  a 
great  nation. 

Across  the  Virginia  line  John  Esten  Cooke  reproduced 
the  days  of  the  Eevolution  and  of  the  Civil  War  in  two 
John  Esten  scries  of  stories  which  caught  the  manner  of 
^°°^®'  each  age  and  portrayed  the  conditions  of  life 

which  prevailed  in  each  in  the  Old  Dominion.  They 
belong,  however,  to  a  bygone  style,  and  help  to  indicate 
the  change  which  has  come  over  the  fashion  in  novel 
writing.  Sentiment  has  not  passed  away,  but  it  is  now 
seldom  sentimental. 

Mary  Johnston,  in  writing  about  an  earlier  period  on 
the  same  ground,  has  reproduced  the  romantic  side  of 
colonial  life  in  strong  colors  under  the  titles  of  "Prisoners 
of  Hope,"  "  To  Have  and  to  Hold,"  and  "  Audrey,"  books 
which  have  been  so  generally  read  and  widely  commented 
upon  as  to  make  further  mention  superfluous.  Instead  it 
may  be  remarked  that  the  succession  of  writers  that  have 
been  mentioned  may  be  regarded  as  representing  different 
classes  of  American  citizens  occupying  so  many  sections 
of  a  broad  belt-line  through  the  West  and  along  the 
Pacific,  the  Gulf,  and  Atlantic  coasts  up  to  the  national 
capital. 

Of  New  England  peculiarities  and  dialect  there  have 
been  many  portrayers.  Given  to  literary  enterprises  the 
New  England  P^ovince  has  not  failed  to  ransack  its  own 
Writers.  neighborhood  to  find  material  for  fiction.  The 
back  country  has  been  as  thoroughly  explored  for  quaint 
characters  and  queer  words  as  for  old  clocks  and  chairs. 
Hard  and  sharp  men  and  women,  clinging  to  remote 
traditions  and  mispronunciations,  not  because  they   do 


Local  Fiction  4^5 

not  know  better,  but  for  fear  of  being  inconsistent  and 
new-fangled,  have  been  shown  up  in  striking  contrast  to 
shiftless  neighbors  who  have  been  born  tired  of  the  two- 
century  strain  after  primness.  No  one  has  done  this 
better  than  Miss  Wilkins  in  her  books  and  sketches  of  a 
frosty  life,  which  she  did  not  have  to  go  far  to  find.  A 
richer  and  more  mellow  town  life  has  been  depicted  in 
appropriate  colors  by  Miss  Jewett  in  numerous  books, 
which  exhibit  the  variety  that  exists  in  character,  cultiva- 
tion, and  manner  of  living  in  a  province  which  is  fast 
becoming  unprovincial.  This  larger  life,  dealing  with 
vital  issues  and  progressive  ideas,  enters  into  the  work  of 
other  writers  who  deserve  more  extended  mention, 
notably  Kose  Terry  Cooke,  Elizabeth  Stuart  Phelps, 
Louisa  May  Alcott,  and  others  beside. 

So  also  in  all  the  circuit  of  prairie,  coast,  and  mountain 
there  are  writers  who  stand  near  the  great  colorists  that 
have  been  enumerated,  each  depicting  the  group  he  knows 
best,  and  all  contributing  to  a  wide  and  picturesque  view 
of  cosmopolitan  life  on  the  continent.  Fireside  travellers 
may  traverse  it  from  the  northern  lakes  to  the  southern 
gulf  and  from  ocean  to  ocean  in  a  local  fiction,  which  has 
been  made  so  faithful  to  scenery,  dialect,  and  character 
that  the  wide  reader  should  know  any  state  if  carried  into 
it  blindfolded  as  soon  as  he  has  eyes  to  see  and  ears  to 
hear.  He  might  not  be  as  certain  of  his  ground  as  the 
Nantucket  skipper  was  of  "  Marm  Hackett's  garden,"  but 
he  ought  to  "  guess  "  or  "  allow  "  or  "  reckon  "  where  he  is 
within  five  hundred  miles,  when  he  hears  these  provincial- 
isms and  others  like  them.  A  few  samples  of  soil  are 
offered  on  which  the  reader  of  local  fiction  can  test 
his  skilL 


4^6  American  Literature 

**  Morton  was  conducted  three  miles  down  the  river  to  a  log 
tavern,  that  being  a  public  and  appropriate  place  for  the  ren- 
dering of  the  decisions  of  Judge  Lynch,  and  affording,  moreover, 
the  convenient  refreshment  of  whisky  and  tobacco  to  those  who 
might  become  exhausted  in  their  arduous  labors  on  behalf  of 
public  justice.  There  was  no  formal  trial.  The  evidence  was 
given  in  a  disjointed  and  spontaneous  fashion ;  the  jury  was 
composed  of  the  whole  crowd,  and  what  the  Quakers  call  the 
*  sense  of  the  meeting  *  was  gathered  from  the  general  outcry. 

"  As  for  Morton,  nothing  could  be  much  clearer  than  that  he 
was  one  of  the  gang.  The  settler  who  had  refused  him  a  lodging 
first  spoke : 

"  *  You  see,  I  seed  in  three  winks  that  the  feller  didn't  own 
the  boss.  He  looked  kinder  sheepish.  Well,  I  poked  a  few 
questions  at  him  and  I  reckon  I  am  the  beaten'est  man  to  ax 
questions  in  this  neck  of  timber.  I  axed  him  whar  he  come 
from,  and  he  let  it  out  that  he  'd  rid  more  'n  fifty  miles.  And  I 
kinder  blazed  away  at  praisin*  his  boss  tell  I  got  him  off  his 
guard,  and  then,  unbeknownst  to  him  I  treed  him  suddenly.  I 
jest  axed  him  if  the  boss  was  his'n  and  he  hemmed  and  hawed 
and  says,  says  he  :  "  Well,  not  exactly  mine."  Then  I  tole  him 
to  putt  out.* " 

The  imminent  hanging-bee  was  dispersed  by  a  circuit- 
riding  preacher  passing  that  way.  Accordingly  the  story 
can  be  dropped  and  the  scene  shifted  westward  to  be  set 
by  another  author. 

"It  was  a  vast  level  where  we  were  riding.  The  soil  was  disinte- 
grated, igneous  rock,  fine  and  well  beaten  down.  Not  a  bird 
sang  in  the  hot  noon ;  not  a  cricket  chirped.  No  sound  except 
the  beat  of  our  horses*  hoofs  on  the  pavement.  We  rode  sido 
by  side,  taking  our  strides  together  over  the  sere  brown  plain  on 
our  gallop  to  save  and  to  slay.  It  came  on  afternoon,  as  we 
rode  on  steadily.  Now  in  the  broken  country,  a  cayote  or  two 
scuttled  away  as  we  passed.  Over  the  edge  of  a  slope  a  herd  of 
antelopes  appeared.    Pausing  for  curiosity,  they  saw  that  we  fled 


Local  Fiction  4^7 

and  they  came  careering  after  us  for  a  mile  or  more  until  we  left 
their  gambolling  play  far  behind.  "We  came  upon  a  wide  tract 
covered  with  wild  sage  bushes.  It  checked  our  speed  and  chafed 
our  horses.  A  little  pathway  in  the  sage  bushes  suddenly  opened 
before  me.  I  dashed  on  a  hundred  yards  in  advance  of  my 
comrades.  What  was  this?  Hoof -marks  in  the  dust!  The 
trail !  the  trail ! 

•*  We  were  ascending  now  all  the  time  into  subalpine  regions. 
"We  crossed  great  sloping  savannas,  deep  in  dry,  rustling  grass, 
where  a  nation  of  cattle  might  pasture.  We  plunged  through 
broad  wastes  of  hot  sand.  We  clattered  across  stony  arroyos, 
longing  thirstily  for  the  gush  of  water  that  had  flowed  there  not 
many  months  before.  Down  in  the  shady  Alley  evening  had 
come  before  its  time.  The  blue  sky  was  overhead,  the  red  sun 
upon  the  castellated  walls  a  thousand  feet  above  us,  the  purpling 
chasm  opened  before.  Over  the  slippery  rocks,  over  the  sheeny 
pavement,  loose  stones,  barricades,  down,  up,  on,  always  on,  went 
the  horses,  we  clinging  as  we  might.  Between  the  ring  of  the 
hoofs  I  heard  a  whisper,  '  We  are  there.*  There  they  were  — 
the  murderers ! " 

Now  across  a  mountain  range  and  into  another  story. 

"The  cabins  of  the  settlement  were  already  behind  the  bluff; 
the  little  stream  which  indicated  the  *  bar '  now  and  then  rang 
out  quite  clearly  at  their  feet.  They  were  quite  alone.  The 
major  sat  down  on  a  boulder,  and  pointed  to  another.  He  con- 
tinued confidently :  *  Now,  look  here,  Tom,  I  want  to  leave 
this  cursed  hole  and  get  clear  of  the  State ;  over  the  Oregon  line 
into  British  Columbia,  or  to  the  coast,  where  I  can  get  a  coasting 
vessel  down  to  Mexico.  It  will  cost  money,  but  I  've  got  it. 
It  will  cost  a  lot  of  risks,  but  I  '11  take  them.  Help  to  put  me 
on  the  other  side  of  the  border  line,  and  I  *11  give  you  a  thousand 
dollars  down  hefore  we  start  and  a  thousand  dollars  when  I  *m 


"  The  half-breed  had  changed  his  slouching  attitude.    It  seemed 
more  indolent  on  account  of  the  loosely  hanging  strap  that  had 

27 


4^3  American  Literature 

onco  held  his  haversack,  which  was  still  worn  in  a  slovenly 
fashion  over  his  shoulder  as  a  kind  of  lazy  sling  for  his  shiftless 
hand. 

*' '  Well,  Tom,  is  it  a  gol  You  can  trust  me,  for  you '11  have 
the  thousand  in  your  pocket  before  you  start.  And  I  can  trust 
you,  for  I  '11  kill  you  quicker  than  lightning  if  you  say  a  word 
of  this  to  any  one  before  I  go,  or  play  a  single  trick  on  me 
afterwards.* 

"  Suddenly  the  two  men  were  rolling  over  and  over  in  the 
underbrush.  The  half-breed  had  thrown  himself  upon  the  major, 
bearing  him  to  the  ground.  The  haversack  strap  for  an  instant 
whirled  like  the  loop  of  a  lasso  in  the  air,  and  descended  over  the 
major's  shoulders,  pinioning  his  arms  to  his  side. 

**  Then  the  half-breed  stripped  off  his  waist  belt,  and  as  dexter- 
ously slipped  it  over  the  ankles  of  the  struggling  man.  There 
was  no  trace  of  triumph  or  satisfaction  in  his  face,  which  wore 
the  same  lowering  look  of  disgust,  as  he  gazed  upon  the  pros- 
trate man. 

*^ '  Who  are  you  % '  said  the  major,  pantingly. 

"  '  I 'm  the  new  sheriff  of  Siskyou  !  That's  my  warrant !  — 
you  've  seen  it  afore.  It 's  just  the  same  as  t'other  sheriff  had 
—  what  you  shot.' " 

Turning  coastwise  and  southward  another  view  is 
presented. 

"  There  was  every  reason  in  the  world  why  the  Senora  should 
be  thus  warmly  attached  to  the  Franciscan  Order.  From  her 
earliest  recollections  the  gray  gown  and  cowl  had  been  familiar 
to  her  eyes,  and  had  represented  the  things  which  she  was 
taught  to  hold  most  sacred  and  dear.  .  .  .  The  right  tower  of 
the  Mission  Church  had  just  been  completed,  and  it  was 
arranged  that  the  consecration  of  this  tower  should  take  place  at 
the  time  of  her  wedding,  and  that  her  wedding  feast  should  be 
spread  in  the  long  outside  corridor.  The  whole  country,  far  and 
near,  was  bid.  The  feast  lasted  three  days ;  open  tables  to 
everybody ;  singing,  dancing,  eating,  and  making  merry.     The 


Local  Fiction  419 

Indians  came  in  bands,  singing  songs  and  bringing  gifts.  On 
the  third  day  the  young  Senora,  and  her  bridegroom,  still  in 
their  wedding  attire  and  bearing  lighted  candles,  walked  with 
the  monks  in  procession,  round  and  round  the  new  tower,  the 
ceremony  seeming  to  all  devout  beholders  to  give  a  blessed  con- 
secration to  the  union  of  the  young  pair  as  well  as  to  the  newly 
completed  tower.  General  Moreno  was  much  beloved  by  both 
army  and  Church.  And  now  by  taking  as  his  bride  the  daughter 
of  a  distinguished  officer,  and  the  niece  of  the  Superior  of  the 
Mission  he  had  linked  himself  anew  to  the  two  dominant  powers 
and  interests  of  the  country." 

This  is  a  glimpse  of  a  primitive  paradise.  The  follow- 
ing is  an  intimation  of  its  loss  by  the  original  possessors : 

"  '  If  there  are  Americans  who  are  good,  who  will  not  cheat 
and  kill,  why  do  they  not  send  after  these  robbers  and  punish 
them  1  And  how  is  it  that  they  make  laws  which  cheat  1 
It  was  the  American  law  which  took  Temecula  away  from  us 
and  gave  it  to  those  men  !  The  law  was  on  the  side  of  thieves. 
No,  Majella,  it  is  a  people  that  steals  !  That  is  their  name  — 
a  people  that  steals,  and  that  kills  for  money.  Is  not  that  a 
good  name  for  a  great  people  to  bear,  when  they  are  like  the 
sands  in  the  sea,  they  are  so  many  ? " 

The  next  station  is  on  the  Gulf  of  Mexico. 

"  After  that  day  and  night,  the  prospect  grew  less  repellent. 
A  gradually  matured  conviction  that  New  Orleans  would  not  be 
found  standing  on  stilts  in  the  quagmire,  enabled  the  eye  to 
become  educated  to  a  better  appreciation'of  the  solemn  landscape. 
Nor  was  the  landscape  always  solemn.  There  were  long  open- 
ings now  and  then  to  right  and  left  of  emerald  green  savannah, 
with  the  dazzling  blue  of  the  Gulf  far  beyond, waving  a  thousand 
white-handed  good-byes  as  the  funereal  swamps  slowly  shut  out 
again  the  horizon.  How  sweet  the  soft  breezes  off  the  moist 
prairies !  How  weird,  how  very  near,  the  crimson  and  green 
and  black  and  yellow  sunsets  1  How  dream-like  the  land  and 
the  great,  whispering  river ! 


420  American  Literature 

"  The  sun  is  once  more  setting  upon  the  Place  d'Arraes.  Onco 
more  the  shadows  of  cathedral  and  town-hall  lie  athwart  the 
pleasant  grounds  where  again  the  city's  fashion  and  beauty  sit 
about  in  the  sedate  Spanish  way,  or  stand  or  slowly  move  in 
and  out  among  the  old  willows  and  along  the  white  walks. 

"  It  was  in  the  Theatre  St.  Philipe,  in  the  month  of  September 
and  in  the  year  1803.  Under  the  twinkle  of  numberless  candles, 
and  in  a  perfumed  air  thrilled  with  the  wailing  ecstasy  of  violins, 
the  little  Creole  capitals  proudest  and  best  were  oflfering  up  the 
first  cool  night  of  the  languidly  departing  summer  to  the  divine 
Terpsichore.  For  summer  there,  bear  in  mind,  is  a  loitering  gossip, 
that  only  begins  to  talk  of  leaving  when  September  rises  to  go. 
It  was  like  hustling  her  out,  to  give  a  select  hal  masque  at  such 
a  very  early  date ;  but  it  was  fitting  that  something  should  be 
done  for  the  sick  and  the  destitute ;  and  why  not  this  1  Every- 
body knows  the  Lord  loveth  a  cheerful  giver." 

Turning  northward  after  the  war,  it  has  been  said 
that  —    . 

"  Very  few  Southern  country  towns  have  been  more  profitably 
influenced  by  the  new  order  of  things  than  Hillsborough,  in 
Middle  Georgia.  At  various  intervals  since  the  war  it  has  had 
what  the  local  weekly  calls  a  *  business  boom.'  The  old  tavern 
has  been  torn  down,  and  in  its  place  stands  a  new  three-story 
brick  hotel,  managed  by  a  very  brisk  young  man,  who  is  shrewd 
enough  to  advertise  in  the  newspapers  of  the  neighboring  towns 
that  he  has  *  special  accommodations  and  special  rates  for  com- 
mercial travellers.'  .  .  . 

"In  1850  there  were  a  great  many  things  in  Hillsborough 
likely  to  puzzle  a  stranger.  The  young  men,  no  matter  how 
young  they  might  be,  were  absorbed  in  politics.  They  had  the 
political  history  of  the  country  at  their  tongues'  ends,  and  the 
discussions  they  carried  on  wore  interminable.  This  interest 
extended  to  all  classes  :  the  planters  discussed  politics  with  their 
overseers ;  and  lawyers,  merchants,  tradesmen,  and  gentlemen  of 
elegant  leisure,  discussed  politics  with  each  other.     Schoolboys 


Local  Fiction  421 

knew  all  about  the  Missouri  Compromise,  the  fugitive  slave  law, 
and  States  Rights.  Sometimes  the  arguments  used  were  more 
substantial  than  words,  but  this  was  only  when  some  old  feud 
was  back  of  the  discussion.  There  was  one  question  in  regard 
to  which  there  was  no  discussion.  That  question  was  slavery. 
It  loomed  up  everywhere  and  in  everything,  and  was  the  basis 
of  all  arguments,  and  yet  it  was  not  discussed ;  there  was  no 
room  for  discussion.  .  . 

"  Uncle  Abner  belonged  to  the  poorer  class  of  planters.  '  You 
take  all  your  men,*  Uncle  Abuer  was  saying,  *  take  all  un  'em 
but  gimme  Hennery  Clay.  Them  abolishioners,  they  may  come 
an  git  all  six  er  my  niggers,  if  they  '11  jes  but  lemme  keep  the 
ginnywine  ole  Whig  docterin.  That's  me  up  an'  down  — 
that 's  wher'  your  uncle  Abner  Lazenberry  stands,  boys.  Lord, 
I  've  seed  sights  wi*  them  niggers.  They  hain't  no  manner 
account.  They  won't  work,  an'  I  'm  obiidge  to  feed  'em,  else 
they  'd  whirl  in  an'  steal  from  the  neighbors.  Hit 's  in-about 
broke  me  for  to  maintain  'em  in  the'r  laziness.'  .  .  . 

"  *  Well,  well ! '  said  Uncle  Abner,  tapping  the  ground  thought- 
fully with  his  cane.  *A  mighty  fur  ways  Vermont  is,  tooby 
shore.  In  my  day  an'  time  I  've  seed  as  many  as  three  men 
folks  from  Vermont,  an'  one  un  'em,  he  wuz  a  wheelwright,  an' 
one  wuz  a  tin-peddler,  an'  the  yuther  one  wuz  a  clock  maker. 
But  that  wuz  a  long  time  ago.  How  is  the  abolishioners  gittin 
on  up  that  away,  an'  when  in  the  name  er  patience  is  they 
a-comin  arter  my  niggers  1  Lord  !  if  them  niggers  wuz  free,  I 
would  n't  have  to  slave  for  'em.'  " 

Still  farther  northward  — 

"  The  shadows  were  beginning  to  creep  slowly  up  the  slopes 
of  the'  Great  Smoky  Mountains,  as  if  they  came  from  the  depths 
of  the  earth.  A  roseate  suffusion  idealized  range  and  peak  to 
the  east.  Ah  !  and  the  air  was  so  clear !  The  sun,  its  yellow 
blaze  burned  out,  and  now  a  sphere  of  smouldering  fire,  was 
dropping  down  behind  Chilhowee,  royally  purple,  richly  dark. 
Wings  were  in  the  air,  and  every  instinct   homeward.     An 


4^2  American  Literature 

eagle,  wifch  a  shadow  scurrying  through  the  valley  like  some 
forlorn  Icarus  that  might  not  soar,  swept  high  over  the  land- 
scape. Above  all  rose  the  great  *bald/  still  splendidly 
illumined  with  the  red  glamour  of  the  sunset,  and  holding 
its  uncovered  head  so  loftily  against  the  sky  that  it  might  seem 
it  had  bared  its  brow  before  the  majesty  of  heaven. 

"When  the  *men  folks/  great,  gaunt,  bearded,  jeans-clad 
fellows,  stood  in  the  shed-room  and  gazed  at  the  splintered 
door  upon  the  floor,  it  was  difficult  to  judge  what  was  the 
prevailing  sentiment,  so  dawdling,  so  uncommunicative,  so 
inexpressive  of  gesture  were  they. 

"  *  We  knowed  ez  thar  war  strangers  prowlin*  roun','  said  the 
master  of  the  house  when  he  had  heard  his  mother's  excited 
account  of  the  events  of  the  day.  *  We  war  a  startin'  home  ter 
dinner,  an'  seen  thar  beastises  hitched  thar  a-nigh  the  trough. 
An'  I  'lowed  ez  mebbe  they  might  be  the  revenue  devils,  so  I 
jes*  made  the  boys  lay  low.  An*  Sol  war  set  ter  watch,  an'  he 
gin  the  word  when  they  hed  rid  away.' 

"  Nothing  more  was  said  on  the  subject  until  after  supper, 
when  they  were  all  sitting,  dusky  shadows,  on  the  little  porch, 
where  the  fireflies  sparkled  and  the  vines  fluttered,  and  one 
might  look  out  and  see  the  new  moon,  in  the  similitude  of  a 
silver  boat,  sailing  down  the  western  skies,  off  the  headlands  of 
Chnhowee." 

Next  in  colonial  Virginia  — 

"  The  afternoon  sunshine  lay  hot  upon  the  house  and  garden 
of  Verney  Manor  —  the  leaves  drooped  motionless,  the  glare 
of  white  paths  hurt  the  eye,  the  flowers  all  seemed  to  be  red. 
The  odor  of  the  rose  and  honeysuckle  was  drowned  in  the 
heavy,  cloying  sweetness  of  the  pendant  masses  of  locust 
bloom.  Down  in  the  garden  the  bees  droned  in  the  vines, 
and  on  the  steps  the  flies  buzzed  undisturbed  about  the  sleep- 
ing hounds.  Above  the  long,  deserted  wharf  and  the  green 
velvet  of  the  marshes  quivered  the  heated  air,  while  to  look 
upon  the  water  was  like  gazing  too  closely  at  blue  flame. 
From  the   tobacco   fields  floated  the   notes  of  a  monotonous 


Local  Fiction  423 

many-versed  chant,  and  a  soft,  uninterrupted  cooing  came 
from  the  dove  cot.  Heat  and  fragrance  and  drowsy  sound  com- 
bined to  give  a  pleasant  somnolence  to  the  wide  sunny  scene. 
'  "  Deep  in  the  cavernous  shade  of  the  porch  lounged  the  master 
of  the  plantation,  his  body  in  one  chair,  his  legs  in  another, 
and  a  silver  tankard  of  sack  standing  upon  a  third,  over  the 
back  of  which  had  been  flung  his  great  peruke  and  his  riding 
coat  of  green  cloth,  discarded  because  of  the  heat.  Thin  blue 
clouds  curled  up  from  his  long  pipe,  and  obscured  his  ruddy 
countenance. 

"  His  shrewd  gray  eyes  under  thin  tufts  of  grizzled  hair  were 
half  closed  in  a  lazy  contentment,  born  of  the  hour,  the  pipe, 
and  the  drink.  The  world  went  very  well  just  then,  in  Colonel 
Verney's  estimation.  Trader,  planter,  magistrate,  member  of 
the  council  of  state,  soldier,  author  on  occasion,  and  fine  gentle- 
man all  rolled  into  one,  after  the  fashion  of  the  times  ;  Cavalier 
of  Cavaliers,  hand  in  glove  with  Governor  Berkeley,  and  pos- 
sessed of  a  beautiful  daughter,  for  whose  favor  half  of  the  young 
gentlemen  of  the  counties  of  York  and  Gloucester  were  ready  to 
draw  rapier  on  the  other  half, — Colonel  Yerney's  world  was  a 
fair  and  stirring  one,  and  gave  him  plentiful  food  for  meditation 
on  a  fine  afternoon." 

In  New  England  — 

"  There  was  a  full  moon  that  night.  About  nine  o'clock 
Louisa  strolled  down  the  road  a  little  way.  There  were  harvest 
fields  on  either  hand,  bordered  by  low  stone  walls.  Luxuriant 
clumps  of  bushes  grew  beside  the  wall,  and  trees  —  wild  cherry 
and  old  apple  trees  —  at  intervals.  Presently  Louisa  sat  down 
on  the  wall  and  looked  about  her  with  mildly  sorrowful  reflec- 
tiveness. Tall  shrubs  of  blueberry  and  meadow-sweet,  all 
woven  together  and  tangled  with  blackberry  vines  and  horse- 
briars,  shut  her  in  on  either  side.  She  had  a  little  clear  space 
between  them.  Opposite  her  on  the  other  side  of  the  road  was 
a  spreading  tree  ;  the  moon  shone  between  its  boughs,  and  the 
leaves  twinkled  like  silver.  The  road  was  bespread  with  a 
beautiful  shifting  of  dapple  of  silver  and  shadow ;  the  air  was 


4^4  American  Literature 

full  of  a  mysterious  sweetness.  *  I  wonder  if  it  is  wild  grapes  1  * 
murmured  Louisa.  She  sat  there  some  time.  She  was  just 
thinking  of  rising,  when  she  heard'  footsteps  and  low  voices,  and 
remained  quiet. 

" '  Well,'  said  Joe  Dagget  [Louisa's  lover],  *  you  Ve  made  up 
your  mind,  then,  I  suppose  1  * 

"  *  Yes,*  returned  another  voice ;  *  I  'm  going  day  after 
to-morrow.' 

" '  That 's  Lily  Dyer,'  thought  Louisa. 

"  A  girl  full  of  calm  rustic  strength  and  bloom,  with  a  master- 
ful way  which  might  have  beseemed  a  princess. 

"  *  Well,'  said  Joe  Dagget,  '  I  ain't  got  a  word  to  say.' 

"  'I  don't  know  what  you  could  say,'  returned  Lily  Dyer. 

'*  *  I  ain't  sorry,'  he  began  at  last,  *  that  that  happened  yester- 
day—  that  we  kind  of  let  on  how  we  felt  to  each  other.  I 
guess  it 's  just  as  well  we  knew.  Of  course,  I  can't  do  any- 
thing different.  I  'm  going  right  on  an'  get  married  next  week. 
I  ain't  going  back  on  a  woman  that 's  waited  for  me  fourteen 
years,  an'  break  her  heart.' 

"  '  If  you  should  jilt  her  to-morrow,  I  would  n't  have  you,* 
spoke  up  the  girl,  with  sudden  vehemence.  '  Honor 's  honor, 
an'  right 's  right.  An'  I  'd  never  think  anything  of  any  man 
that  went  against  'em  for  me  or  any  other  girl ;  you  'd  find  that 
out,  Joe  Dagget.' 

"  *  Well  I  hope  you  would  n't,  God  knows  I  do.  And  —  I 
hope  —  one   of  these  days  —  you'll  —  come   across  somebody 


"  *  I  don't  see  any  reason  why  I  should  n't.' 

"Suddenly  her  tone  changed.  She  spoke  in  a  sweet,  clear 
voice,  so  loud  that  she  could  have  been  heard  across  the  street. 

" '  No,  Joe  Dagget,'  said  she,  '  I  '11  never  marry  any  other 
man  as  long  as  I  live.  I  *ve  got  good  sense,  an'  I  ain't  going  to 
break  my  heart  nor  make  a  fool  of  myself;  but  I  *m  never  going 
to  be  married,  you  can  be  sure  of  that.  I  ain't  the  sort  of  girl 
to  feel  this  way  twice.* 

"  Louisa  heard  an  exclamation  and  a  soft  commotion  behind 
the  bushes;    then   Lily  spoke  again  —  the   voice   sounded  as 


Local  Fiction  425 

if  she  had   risen.     'This  must   be  put   a  stop  to/  said  she. 
*  We  've  stayed  here  long  enough.     I  'm  going  home.' 

**  Louisa  never  mentioned  Lily  Dyer  to  him.  She  simply 
told  Joe  that  while  she  had  no  cause  of  complaint  against  him, 
she  had  lived  so  long  in  one  way  that  she  shrank  from  making 
a  change." 

The  titles  of  books  from  which  these  characteristic 
extracts  are  taken  have  not  been  given  here,  as  the 
ordinary  reader  of  American  fiction  may  be  interested  in 
placing  the  sketches  for  himself.  But  as  he  glances  over 
these  variegated  patches  of  color  on  the  borders  of  the 
national  domain  and  recalls  the  vast  territory  encircled 
by  its  boundaries,  the  diversity  of  its  scenery  and  modes 
of  life  will  be  forced  upon  him.  The  next  reflection  will 
be  upon  the  unity  which  encompasses  and  binds  to- 
gether all  this  variety  of  race  and  dialect  into  an 
individual  people  having  common  interests  and  purposes; 
and  then  the  conviction  will  follow  that  more  and  more 
as  facilities  for  intercommunication  and  interchange  of 
views  increase  will  sectional  differences  disappear  and 
be  replaced  by  a  growing  identity  of  speech  and  domi- 
nant ideas. 


XXXVI 

OTHER  PHASES  OF  FICTION 

The  writers  of  fiction  mentioned  in  the  last  chapter 
nearly  exhausted  local  fields  of  the  present  time  in  the 
United  States.  What  they  left  has  been  cleaned  up  by 
followers  and  imitators.  The  Indian,  the  mining  camp, 
the  Spanish  mission,  the  Creole,  the  megro  in  several 
shades,  the  mountaineer,  and  the  Yankee  will  yield  noth- 
ing new  for  the  present  generation.  Leading  novelists 
saw  this  some  time  ago  and  cast  about  for  fresh  material. 
Historic  Some  fouud  it  in  foreign  fields  and  in  times  that 
Fiction.  have  become  historic.    Mrs.    Catherwood  and 

Gilbert  Parker,  when  a  Canadian,  following  the  lead  of 
Parkman,  the  historian,  found  the  old  regime  in  Canada 
nearest  home  in  place  and  time.  "  The  Komance  of 
DoUard,"  "  The  Lady  of  Fort  St.  John,"  and  seven  other 
volumes  are  the  work  of  a  novelist  who  found  a  rich  vein 
of  romance  in  the  French  and  English  struggle  for  su- 
premacy in  North  America.  Parker  has  found  a  similar 
"  lead  "  in  the  old  cities  on  the  St.  Lawrence  in  the  days 
of  Louis  XIV.,  of  which  his  "  Seats  of  the  Mighty  "  fur- 
nishes a  good  example  of  his  interesting  method  in  historical 
fiction. 

General  Lew  Wallace  went  back  nineteen  centuries  for 
his  "  Ben-Hur :  a  Tale  of  Christ,"  and  to  the  Orient  for  the 
setting  of  a  story  which  has  been  read  by  more  people 
than  any  other  during  the  last  twenty  years.    He  has  had 

426 


Other  Phases  of  Fiction  427 

competitors  in  a  field  which  will  be  turned  over  again  and 
again  as  long  as  the  gospel  is  read,  but  no  single  writer 
has  lent  so  much  new  interest  to  the  old  familiar  story. 
As  far  back  as  1837  William  Ware  was  a  pioneer  of  eastern 
romance  in  his  "  Zenobia  "  and  "  Aurelian  "  and  "  Julian," 
but  later  writers  have  made  proportionate  progress  in 
oriental  fiction. 

The  cosmopolitan  American,  Marion  Crawford,  has 
found  material  for  his  novels  in  India  and  Italy,  in  Arabia 
and  Austria,  in  Europe  and  America  at  large.  Foreign 
Twenty-five  books  in  twelve  years  are  the  prod-  S"^J*=<=*^- 
uct  of  a  diligent  and  rapid  writer.  If  all  are  not  of  equal 
interest  and  worth,  the  choice  of  them  is  large  enough 
to  satisfy  the  ordinary  reader,  who  will  begin,  perhaps, 
with  "  Saracinesca "  and  end  when  he  is  tired  or  desires 
a  change.  The  same  must  be  said  of  other  voluminous 
novelists.  There  are  too  many  authors  to  be  read  to  let 
any  one  of  them  monopolize  attention.  Quality  tells  for 
more  than  quantity  since  Cooper's  laudable  attempt  to 
provide  stories  for  a  nation  in  a  time  of  comparative 
scarcity.  But  when  the  years  of  plenty  came,  readers 
began  to  grow  fastidious  and  to  pick  only  the  best,  among 
which  are  several  of  Crawford's  novels,  especially  those 
grouped  about  the  one  mentioned  above  and  the  oriental 
"  Zoroaster." 

From  fiction  of  remote  times  and  lands  one  may  turn  to 
that  which  is  nearer  home  but  yet  international.     Such 
are  the  fabrics  that  have  been  woven  out  of 
Anglo-American   material  with  ocean  steam-  American 

Novelists. 

ships  for  shuttles.     Travellers  back  and  forth 
find  that  the  Anglican  family  is  essentially  one,  notwith- 
standing  incidental   squabbles    between    the   older   and 


4^8  American  Literature 

younger  children,  and  that  Americans  are  more  at  home 
in  London  than  in  Paris.  Some  of  them  have  domiciled 
in  the  English  metropolis  long  enough  to  set  forth  with 
tolerable  justice  the  traits  of  both  branches  of  the  Saxon 
race,  incurring  at  the  same  time  the  charge  of  emphasizing 
unfortunate  peculiarities.  Henry  James,  Jr.,  is  the  most 
prominent  of  this  class.  Educated  abroad  from  his  twelfth 
year  in  Paris,  Boulogne,  Geneva,  and  Bonn,  he  came  to 
know  European  literatures  and  social  life  at  an  early  day. 
This  knowledge  has  become  intimate  by  subsequent  resi- 
dence in  foreign  capitals,  and  is  added  to  that  inherited 
acquaintance  with  his  own  country  which  a  native  cannot 
easily  shake  off,  even  if  he  has  the  inclination.  Besides, 
there  are  always  enough  Americans  abroad  as  tourists  or 
residents  to  keep  an  exiled  fellow  citizen  reminded  of  the 
progress  the  nation  is  making.  This  is  sufficient  to  save 
him  great  mortification,  unless  it  be  at  his  own  withdrawal 
from  his  home  and  country.  But  there  are  always  people 
in  every  country  who  can  easily  become  acclimated  in 
another,  and  where  there  is  one  American  living  constantly 
in  foreign  lands  there  are  ten  thousand  foreigners  here 
who  have  no  desire  to  return  to  the  conditions  they  left 
behind  them. 

The  chief  regret  concerning  our  American  authors  who 

have   become  aliens  from  their  native  country  is,  that 

instead  of  representing  its  best  they  sometimes 

Caricature.  .  .  ^       .  .       . 

choose  to  caricature  its  worst.  In  this  they  are 
able  to  outdo  the  superficial  foreigner  who  goes  through 
"  the  states  "  in  a  bee  line  for  San  Francisco  and  returns 
by  way  of  Vancouver,  Manitoba,  and  Montreal.  What  an 
American-born  foreigner  says  of  the  best  at  home  will 
always  be  taken  with  a  grain  of  salt,  but  his  portrayal  of 


Other  Phases  of  Fiction  429 

the  worst  will  be  implicitly  and  gladly  believed.  In  this  our 
native  critics  resident  in  Europe  have  not  the  excuse  that 
the  home-staying  censors  have  —  namely,  to  correct  and 
educate  their  neighbors,  as  Holmes  and  Lowell  did.  If  the 
schoolmaster  must  stay  abroad,let  him  confine  his  attention 
to  dispelling  the  abundant  ignorance  he  finds  there  about 
his  native  land,  beginning  with  its  geography  and  grammar 
and  ending  with  its  institutions.  Lesser  matters  relating 
to  the  joyous  and  elastic  spirits  of  its  young  people,  and 
their  startling  freedom  from  conventionalities  and  tradi- 
tions that  have  descended  through  oppressive  centuries  in 
Europe  can  be  slurred  over.  Even  the  aspirations  of 
ambitious  older  people  are  better  than  sluggish  submission 
to  inherited  limitations.  The  international  novelist  has 
great  opportunities  for  cultivating  the  knowledge  which 
produces  amity  between  nations,  but  it  is  not  the  best  way 
of  accomplishing  this  end  to  descend  to  the  ludicrous 
exhibition  of  minor  differences  and  eccentricities. 

The  apology  for  this  microscopical  treatment  rests  in 
part  upon  a  realistic  theory  of  portraiture.     Things  must 
be  reported  with  photographic  exactness  and 
minuteness  of  detail.     Formerly  a  character  est  of 

Realism. 

was  indicated  by  broad  lines  or  by  suggestive 
revelations  of  mental  states.  If  a  somewhat  general  and 
indefinite  conception  resulted,  there  was  room  for  ideal 
reconstruction  by  each  reader  according  to  his  personal 
bias.  In  the  inevitable  change  of  literary  fashion  a  time 
came  when  generalities  would  not  do  for  leading  writers. 
It  was  no  longer  satisfactory  to  say  that  the  heroine  had 
brown  hair  and  an  abundance  of  it.  How  it  was  dressed 
became  an  equally  important  question.  And  if  the  hero 
was  said  to  wear  a  blue  necktie,  could  that  broad  statement 


43  o  American  Literature 

satisfy  any  reader  who  ever  stood  before  the  endless 
varieties  of  neckwear  in  a  haberdasher's  window  ?  What 
depths  of  infamy  might  be  possible  to  the  wearer  of  a 
made  tie,  and  how  irreproachable  must  that  youth  be  who 
is  up  to  the  latest  fad  in  knot  and  color !  And  then  there 
is  the  all-prevailing  element  of  tobacco  smoke  in  modem 
fiction ;  how  is  it  produced  by  a  given  character  ?  From 
pipe,  cigar,  or  cigarette  ?  And  how  are  these  held,  and  how 
is  the  smoke  blown,  and  where  and  into  whose  face? 
Kealism  cannot  overlook  or  pass  by  such  important  indices 
to  mental  and  moral  states.  It  is  its  business  to  be  on 
the  watch  for  such  signs,  to  note  down  examples  as  an 
artist  might  make  notes  of  features  in  a  landscape  for 
future  use.  And  all  this  and  more  in  the  interest  of  re- 
producing what  actually  is  going  on  in  the  everyday  world 
of  men  and  women,  youth  and  children,  as  opposed  to  that 
romantic  world  which  the  old  writers  used  to  people  with 
creations  which  represented  possible,  but  uncommon 
attainments  in  goodness,  badness,  and  mediocrity.  Instead 
of  this  world  of  possible  but  unusual  characters  and  in- 
cidents there  is  exhibited  now  a  photographic  reprint  of 
the  commonplace  life  most  of  us  are  living,  with  no  elab- 
orate plot  or  scheme,  merely  a  magnifying  mirror  set  at 
an  angle  in  a  window  casement  to  reflect  the  passing  and 
repassing  on  the  street  of  the  busy  and  idle,  the  anxious 
and  the  heedless,  the  beggar  and  the  swell.  But  the 
procession  must  move  slow  enough  to  let  the  rent  in  the 
beggar's  shirt  be  accurately  measured,  and  the  buttons  on 
the  dude's  coat  be  counted  to  see  if  they  are  of  the  regu- 
lation number.  Such  delineation  may  doubtless  go  with 
masterly  plots,  valuable  suggestions,  and  deep  sympathies, 
but  its  tendency  is  to  withdraw  attention  from  these. 


Other  Phases  of  Fiction  431 

The  characters  of  naturalism  live  the  most  of  their  life  on 
the  surface,  keeping  up  appearances  of  one  kind  or  another, 
and  the  superficial  is  what  commands  the  energies  of  the 
latter-day  realistic  writer  to  observe  and  his  skill  to 
portray.  Possibly  this  phase  of  fiction  is  the  legitimate 
outcome  and  reward  of  the  life  which  cultivates  externals 
and  represses  emotions.  At  any  rate  it  is  welcomed  and 
read,  and  readers  do  not  need  to  be  told  where  they  can 
find  it. 

In  the  same  set  with  international  fiction  and  that  of 
the  naturalistic  type  is  the  society  novel.  As  might  be 
expected,  if  treated  in  a  realistic  way  its  plots  ^^^  society 
are  not  made  of  gunpowder  and  dark  lanterns.  ^°^^^- 
They  seldom  get  beyond  the  efforts  of  one  clever  person 
to  outwit,  outshine,  and  crowd  out  another  in  the  univer- 
sal race  for  social  distinction.  Anything  further  would 
be  in  bad  form.  To  succeed  in  mounting  upon  a  rival's 
shoulders  in  reaching  for  the  prize  is  about  as  far  as  a 
plot  can  be  expected  to  carry  one.  But  there  may  be 
bad  blood  enough  stirred  in  the  process  to  furnish  an 
old-fashioned  romance  with  daggers  and  poison.  The  art 
appears  in  keeping  these  impolite  emotions  out  of  sight. 
To  betray  them  would  be  as  damaging  as  an  exhibition  of 
bad  temper.  And  so  the  novel  of  society,  like  society 
itself,  keeps  conventional  levels  on  the  surface,  whatever 
currents  and  counter-currents  may  be  surging  below  in 
depths  which  it  attempts  to  make  transparent.  More 
skill,  perhaps,  is  required  here  and  now  than  in  the  out- 
spoken days  when  a  word  was  answered  by  a  blow  and 
this  by  a  sword.  Scott  could  tell  how  one  of  his  cavaliers 
would  resent  an  insult  or  Queen  Elizabeth  a  slight ;  he 
would  not  be  as  safe  now  in  predicting  how  a  modern 


43^  American  Literature 

society  woman  would  get  her  revenge.  So,  too,  readers 
at  the  beginning  of  the  century  delighted  in  the  primitive 
romance  with  its  clatter  and  glitter ;  at  the  close  they  are 
taken  up  with  contests  that  are  carried  on  as  quietly, 
shrewdly,  and  decisively  as  a  game  of  chess.  The  skill 
in  waging  the  one  conflict  may  be  no  less  than  in  the 
other ;  the  ability  to  see  through  and  describe  the  last 
may  be  as  great  as  to  portray  the  first. 

In  the  construction  of  such  fiction  William  D.  Howells 
is  eminent  enough  to  have  a  crowd  of  imitators  and 
William  D.  voluminous  enough  to  satisfy  the  ordinary 
Howells.  reader.  The  barriers  which  democratic  com- 
munities try  to  maintain  between  their  different  classes, 
like  the  invisible  lines  of  latitude  and  longitude,  require 
much  pains  to  define  and  guard,  and  produce  little 
comedies  and  tragedies  when  crossed,  furnishing  material 
for  such  stories  as  "  A  Chance  Acquaintance  "  and  "  Out 
of  the  Question,"  "  The  Eise  of  Silas  Lapham,"  and  "  The 
Lady  of  Aroostook."  Profounder  reasons  bring  about 
the  conclusion  of  "  A  Modern  Instance,"  the  strongest  of 
the  group  which  can  be  gathered  from  the  work  of  forty 
years  and  as  many  volumes.  In  the  novels  a  generally  fair 
and  sympathetic  view  of  American  life  is  presented,  from 
which  may  be  derived  lessons  of  profit  to  a  society  which 
is  not  always  sure  of  itself.  In  addition  to  these  may  be 
mentioned  valuable  pictures  of  Italian  life  in  city  and 
country  in  the  "  Venetian  Life,"  "  Italian  Journeys,"  and 
•  Tuscan  Cities,"  good  as  guide  books  for  fireside  tourists. 

Next  to  the  novel  of  society  and  manners  may  be  placed 
sodoio  c  ^^^^  ^^  ^^®  social  science  in  which  everybody 
stories.  jg  j^jg^  jjQ^  interested  in  one  way  or  another. 

The  problems   of  wealth   and  poverty,  of  capital  and 


Other  Phases  of  Fiction  433 

labor,  of  monopolies  and  small  tradesmen,  of  disease 
and  sanitation,  of  crime  and  reformation,  furnish  numer- 
ous writers  with  fertile  themes,  plots  not  far  from  their 
doors,  and  characters  and  incidents  thick  as  sensations  in 
a  yellow  newspaper.  But  these  questions  deserve  all  the 
care  and  demand  all  the  thought  which  the  average  story 
writer  bestows  upon  them.  Of  one  thing  all  may  be  sure 
—  that  is,  that  the  general  tendency  of  such  novels  will 
be  in  the  right  direction,  if  they  are  to  meet  with  popular 
favor  and  be  widely  read.  Literature  is  a  commodity 
belonging  to  the  multitude,  bought  and  read  by  one  and 
another,  and  even  more  difi&cult  to  be  cornered  and  monop- 
olized than  votes.  This  alone  will  keep  the  most  of  it  on 
the  right  side,  and  help  it  in  diffusing  the  best  sentiments 
and  in  establishing  the  safest  principles.  The  field  of 
such  novels  will  be  found  in  great  cities  and  commercial 
centres,  where  extremes  of  wealth  and  poverty,  vice  and 
virtue,  are  in  closest  proximity.  And  the  society  element 
in  them  will  necessarily  be  large.  Henry  B.  Fuller's 
"  With  the  Procession "  is  an  example  in  Chicago,  and 
Charles  Dudley  Warner's  "Golden  House"  another  in 
New  York. 

One  remove  from  such  novels  is  the  fiction  which  is 
written  with  a  definite  purpose.     Critics  may  rail  at  such 
work,  but  the  fact  confronts  them  that  "  Uncle 
Tom's  Cabin  "  has  been  read  in  more  languages  with  a 

^       ^         Purpose. 

than  any  other  novel  of  the  century.  Of 
course  it  cannot  be  said  of  every  story  which  has  been 
written  in  the  interest  of  reform  that  it  is  in  great 
demand,  but  people  will  continue  to  write  and  read  fiction 
having  an  aim  so  long  as  there  is  a  wrong  to  be  righted. 
And  writers  will  be  successful  in  the  degree  that  they 

28 


434  American  Literature 

keep  their  definite  intention  behind  the  scenes  and  let 
their  actors  deal  with  the  audience.  The  difficulty  is,  not 
to  reveal  the  purpose  by  which  a  writer  is  so  strongly 
possessed  that  he  must  write  or  go  about  raving.  But 
the  reader  who  is  to  catch  his  fever  must  have  it  con- 
veyed in  the  atmosphere  of  the  story.  He  may  resent 
visible  inoculation  with  enthusiasm  for  a  cause,  however 
good  the  cause  may  be.  Yet  there  are  several  wrongs  to 
man  and  beast  which  call  for  skilful  presentation  and 
vivid  showing  up  to  popular  notice  in  a  class  of  fiction 
that  is  beginning  to  be  written. 

In  general  it  may  be  said  that  fiction  is  the  principal 
branch  of  literature  at  the  present  day,  at  least  if  deter- 
mined by  the  number  of  volumes  issued  and  read. 
Writers  and  librarians  may  deplore  the  fact  of  its  abun- 
dant issue,  but  it  is  better  to  accept  it  as  an  opportunity 
to  instruct  and  direct  the  multitude.  Even  in  the  his- 
torical novel  there  is  room  for  reproducing  with  fidelity 
the  controlling  ideas  and  actual  manners  of  the  past; 
and  there  may  be  an  equal  duty  of  faithfulness  in  trans- 
mitting to  the  future  the  real  life  of  our  own  time  more 
exactly  than  some  of  our  contemporary  fiction  is  likely 
to  hand  it  down  to  posterity.  So  in  every  tendency, 
purpose,  and  phase  of  civil,  social,  intellectual,  humane, 
moral,  and  religious  life  there  are  still  unoccupied  corners 
and  some  broad  acres  which  will  bear  turning  over  once 
more.  From  present  appearances  there  is  no  lack  of 
workmen  and  no  diminution  in  the  call  for  products  of 
every  kind  and  grade.  And  the  novel  of  the  futuje,  like 
that  of  the  present,  will  be  what  readers  demand.  How 
much  novelists  themselves  can  do  to  direct  and  shape  this 
demand  is  a  question  worth  incidental  consideration. 


Other  Phases  of  Fiction  435 

Every  reader  of  this  and  the  preceding  chapter  will 
miss  the  name  of  favorite  novelists,  and  marvel  that  they 
should  have  been  omitted  or  crowded  out  to  make  room 
for  others  less  deserving  of  mention.  Accordingly  it 
must  be  remarked  that  a  list  of  everybody's  favorites 
would  have  more  than  filled  the  space  assigned.  "Writers 
of  fiction,  especially  in  the  short  story  form  of  it,  have 
already  become  so  numerous  that  they  all  can  be  listed 
only  in  a  catalogue  or  directory,  and  should  be  classified 
according  to  the  kinds  of  fiction  they  produce.  Some  of 
these  kinds  are  all  that  it  has  been  expedient  to  enumer- 
ate here,  with  a  few  prominent  names  belonging  to  each 
class.  It  will  be  easy  to  find  others  in  each  neighbor- 
hood if  these  are  not  suj[ficient.  But  even  the  inveterate 
novel  reader  will  admit  that  fiction  is  not  the  whole  of 
literature,  and  that  a  mental  diet  of  sweets  and  stimu- 
lants alone  is  apt  to  induce  intellectual  dyspepsia. 


XXXVII 

AT  THE  CLOSE  OF  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTUBY 

The  survey  of  the  century  in  chapters  of  the  national 
series  has  included  political  writers  who  defined  the 
Constitution,  poets  who  attempted  ambitious  epics  and 
dramas,  early  novelists  who  wrote  in  the  English  fashion 
of  the  time,  a  group  of  literary  aspirants  who  gathered 
around  Irving,  later  novelists  inspired  by  Cooper,  poets 
who  succeeded  Bryant,  Cambridge  writers  of  prose  and 
verse,  historians  who  wrote  of  our  own  and  foreign  lands, 
orators  who  contributed  classics  to  our  literature,  and 
novelists  who  are  leaders  in  several  departments  of 
fiction.  Throughout  the  entire  succession  a  rapid  yet 
healthy  and  symmetrical  growth  in  our  literature  has 
been  apparent.  The  sapling  of  1800  has  put  forth  branch 
and  leaf,  blossom  and  fruit,  in  due  season  and  on  every 
side.  Somewhat  ungainly  at  first,  as  all  young  growths 
are  apt  to  be,  scant  here  and  overloaded  there,  it  has  at 
length  shaped  itself  into  reasonable  proportion,  strength, 
and  grace  in  the  sunshine  and  storms  of  a  hundred 
years. 

As  we  look  at  this  accumulated  and  growing  literature 
at  the  end  of  the  century  a  few  reflections  are  inevitable. 
First,  concerning  its  volume.  It  would  be  impracticable 
to  compute  how  many  books  have  been  printed  in  the 
last  one  hundred  years,  or  to  say  how  far  many  of  them 

436 


At  the  Close  of  the  19th  Century     437 

are  read  to-day.     It  is  more  to  the  purpose  to  note  the 
measure  and  quality  of  present  production. 

Publishers  reported  that  in  the  closing  year  of  the  cen- 
tury the  number  of  new  books  by  American  authors, 
including  new  editions  of  a  comparatively  few,  Book-making 
amounted  to  3,878.  These  figures  represent  *"'®~' 
about  3,000  writers  throughout  the  country  who  have 
had  their  books  published.  This  seems  a  large  number 
until  it  is  remembered  that  the  entire  population  of  the 
country  is  not  far  from  75,000,000,  which  would  leave 
but  one  author  to  25,000  readers.  Still,  3,000  writers 
publishing  editions  averaging  1,000  copies  each  swell  the 
number  of  separate  volumes  to  3,000,000,  or  one  copy 
for  every  twenty-five  readers,  which  may  not  be  far  from 
the  average  number  who  read  a  single  volume  during  the 
year.  These  figures  do  not  represent  all  the  writing  that 
is  done,  —  such  as  for  magazines  and  newspapers,  not  to 
mention  nine  out  of  every  ten  bulky  book  manuscripts 
which,  it  is  estimated,  are  declined  by  publishers. 

Of  these  American  books  which  were  printed  during 
the  year  the  greatest  number  belong  to  the  department 
of  fiction  —  659 ;  but  when  to  these  native  works  of  fic- 
tion 619  reprints  or  importations  of  foreign  novels  are 
added,  it  will  be  seen  that  fiction  presents  a  total  of 
1,278  titles,  new  and  old,  domestic  and  foreign.  It  is  safe 
to  say  that  900  of  these  are  new,  and  that  five  novels 
every  two  days  are  demanded  by  the  American  public 
—  else  they  would  not  be  issued.  More  than  one-half  of 
these  are  furnished  by  our  own  writers.  So  are  404 
juvenile  books,  the  third  in  the  list;  law  books  being 
second,  515  in  number ;  347  in  education  and  language, 
and  291  in  theology  and  religion ;  after  which  follow  with 


43  8  American  Literature 

decreasing  numbers  political  and  social  science,  biography, 
history,  poetry  and  drama,  literature  and  collected  works, 
physical  and  mathematical  science,  geography  and  travel, 
medicine  and  hygiene,  fine  arts,  useful  arts,  domestic  and 
rural  books,  53 ;  sports  and  amusements,  35 ;  humor  and 
satire,  31.  These  lists,  which  do  not  greatly  vary  for  the 
last  few  years,  give  a  fair  idea  of  the  demand  by  readers 
and  production  by  writers,  so  far  as  quantity  is  con- 
cerned. 

With  regard  to  quality,  the  test  must  be  made  by  what 
is  published  and  called  for  in  the  open  market  of  the 
world.  Time  was  when  our  best  reading  came  from 
England.  No  American  prejudice  prevented  the  impor- 
tation and  reading  of  English  books  after  the  beginning 
of  the  present  century.  Preference  for  British  authors 
was  general.  Native  writers  have  had  to  win  their  way 
in  the  face  of  such  preference.  In  spite  of  it  they  are 
now  neck  and  neck  with  English  and  foreign  producers 
of  fiction,  according  to  statistics  for  the  year  1901.  And 
in  all  the  other  departments  taken  together  the  demand 
for  American  works  over  foreign  here  was  as  eighteen  to 
ten.  The  closest  competition  was  in  the  field  of  poetry 
and  drama  where  the  foreign  books  were  to  the  American 
as  112  to  184.  At  the  same  time  it  may  be  observed 
that  the  total  production  of  new  books  in  England  for 
the  above  year  w^as  5,971,  and  in  France  13,362  as  against 
3,878  in  this  country,  including  new  editions  of  previous 
publications  here.  Such  comparisons  show  that  here  at 
home  our  literature  must  take  its  chances  for  popular 
favor  in  the  people's  judgment  with  the  best  that  England 
and  the  Continent  can  produce.  Eeaders  will  have  the 
best  without  regard  to  nationality.     Puritan  exclusion  is 


At  the  Close  of  the  19th  Century     439 

a  thing  of  the  past.  In  its  place  came  a  temporary 
bondage  to  English  standards  and  literature.  Then  the 
reaction  of  young  America  followed,  and  later  a  mild  attack 
in  certain  quarters  of  Anglomania  and  in  others  of  Anglo- 
phobia. Now  public  sentiment  is  getting  clothed  and  in 
its  right  mind,  and  popular  taste  settled  and  steady.  Its 
vibrations  and  variations  are  not  greater  than  those  of 
the  magnetic  needle,  and  it  knows  the  chief  meridians. 

The  element  of  numbers  must  also  be  taken  into  ac- 
count in  estimating  the  value  of  different  works  in  any 
department.  Some  will  say  that  judicious  advertising 
will  sell  any  book,  but  general  commendation  by  friend 
to  friend  and  neighbor  to  neighbor  will  do  more  to  extend 
the  reading  of  it  in  wider  and  wider  circles.  Something 
must  also  be  credited  to  the  direction  popular  interest  is 
taking,  as  for  example  just  now  in  the  line  of  our  own 
history,  particularly  in  the  Eevolutionary  period.  This 
will  not  account  entirely,  but  it  must  somewhat,  for  the 
remarkable  popularity  of  such  books  as  "Janice  Mere- 
dith," by  Paul  Leicester  Ford,  and  of  "  Kichard  Carvel," 
by  Winston  Churchill,  and  of  "Hugh  Wynne,"  by  Dr. 
Mitchell.  The  comparatively  unimportant  events  of  that 
contest  are  now  reviewed  in  the  light  of  the  magnificent 
results  to  which  they  led,  thus  giving  them  fresh  signifi- 
cance. Moreover,  a  nation  which  is  beginning  to  long 
for  an  heroic  past  such  as  older  nations  possess  is  ready  to 
cast  glamour  over  transactions  which  were  commonplace 
in  their  outward  features  and  sublime  only  in  the  lofty 
spirit  and  devotion  which  animated  them.  Yet  with  so 
little  of  external  pomp  and  circumstance  to  adorn  their 
stories,  our  latest  novelists  have  placed  themselves  along- 
side the  best  writers  of  the  day,  according  to  the  over- 


440  American  Literature 

whelming  verdict  of  the  people  expressed  by  their  demand 
for  such  books.  Also  the  immense  sale  of  recent  works 
of  fiction  not  in  the  historical  department  of  it  indicates 
an  equal  appreciation  of  artistic  performance,  irrespective 
of  its  scheme,  and  that  some  of  our  workmen  in  local 
material  are  standing  in  the  front  rank  of  novelists  at  the 
close  of  the  century. 

Bated  by  the  demand,  the  first  ten  books  of  the  year 
were  "  David  Harum,"  "  Eichard  Carvel,"  "  When  Knight- 
hood was  in  Slower,"  "  To  Have  and  to  Hold,"  "  Janice 
Meredith,"  "  The  World  Almanac,"  "  Eben  Holden,"  "  The 
Keign  of  Law,"  "Alice  of  Old  Vincennes,"  "The  Day's 
Work."  Sales  ranged  from  480,000  to  102,000  in  the 
year  with  an  average  of  over  a  quarter  of  a  million  copies 
each  for  the  ten  books. 

In  history  many  writers  are  naturally  occupied  with 
recent  events  connected  with  the  Spanish  war  and  in 
gathering  an  abundant  harvest  of  materials,  good  and 
poor,  for  future  use.  The  events  themselves  are  as  yet 
too  near  for  perspective  treatment  in  a  work  that  shall 
cover  the  entire  field.  Meantime  interesting  monographs 
have  been  written  on  the  "  Maine,"  Cuba,  the  Philippines, 
the  rough  rider,  campaigns  here  and  there,  with  a  general 
survey  of  the  war  by  Henry  Cabot  Lodge.  So  also  vari- 
ous histories  of  colonial  or  national  periods  have  been 
continued  with  the  fidelity  and  accuracy  which  charac- 
terize later  historians  as  distinguished  from  the  pictur- 
esque and  romantic,  though  not  necessarily  inaccurate 
writers  of  an  earlier  group.  Examples  among  those 
issued  recently  are  found  in  "  The  Quakers  in  the  Eevo- 
lution,"  "  The  Puritan  as  a  Colonist  and  Eef ormer,"  "  The 
Puritan  Eepublic,"  "  The  History  of  American  Privateers," 


At  the  Close  of  the  19th  Century     441 

and  "The  Dutch  and  Quaker  Colonies  in  America,"  the 
last  of  a  series  by  the  late  tireless  historian,  John  Fiske. 

Next  to  the  history  of  nations  comes  that  of  distin- 
guished persons,  and  biography  affords  an  equal  if  not 
a  superior  opportunity  for  literary  skill.  A  reminiscent 
character  has  been  given  to  recent  work  in  this  direction 
by  T.  W.  Higginson  in  his  "Contemporaries,"  by  E.  E. 
Hale  in  "  Lowell  and  His  Friends,"  and  by  Mrs.  Howe  in 
her  "  Eeminiscences."  They  are  all  valuable  contribu- 
tions to  the  literary  history  of  the  country,  as  the  lives 
of  Stanton,  Sherman,  Stevens,  Chase,  and  Lincoln  are  to 
the  political  history  of  a  generation  ago.  Other  biog- 
raphers of  "  The  Many-Sided  Franklin  "  and  "  The  True 
William  Penn  "  go  back  to  times  historic  in  the  spirit  of 
modern  research  and  iconoclastic  revelation,  which,  it 
must  be  admitted,  adds  a  new  interest  to  well-worn  sub- 
jects. A  question  will  always  be  in  order  with  regard 
to  the  right  of  every  public  man  to  be  presented  at  his 
best  by  his  biographer,  and  with  such  allowances  as  are 
granted  him  when  he  sits  for  a  portrait  or  even  a  photo- 
graph. The  snap-shot  theory  in  biography  may  be  in  the 
interest  of  partial  truth,  but  not  of  general  justice,  espe- 
cially in  recounting  the  public  life  of  a  popular  hero. 
Foibles  have  a  right  to  be  destroyed  by  time,  and  it  is 
not  natural  for  sons  to  remember  fathers  by  their  faults. 

The  two  hundred  volumes  of  poetry  which  were  issued 
in  a  year  make  a  good  showing,  so  far  as  numbers  go, 
but  no  definite  answer  has  been  given  to  the 
frequent  question  about  the  revival  of  poetic 
composition  as  distinguished  from  verse-making.  In  a 
few  instances  the  somewhat  indefinite  line  which  sepa- 
rates the  two  achievements  has  been  crossed  in  the  greater 


44^  American  Literature 

part  of  a  collection  or  in  a  single  poem,  but  the  nation  is 
still  in  a  state  of  hopeful  expectancy  for  the  return  of 
the  muse  with  power.  Eeaders  of  poetry  are  apt  to  turn 
to  the  new  edition  of  an  old  favorite,  while  writers  of 
verse  keep  on  courageously  in  the  endeavor  not  to  let  it 
become  a  lost  art  amidst  influences  which  are  not  emi- 
nently favorable  to  its  production.  The  wave  law  holds 
here  as  in  other  spheres,  and  where  there  is  a  trough  there 
will  by  and  by  be  a  crest  and  a  falling  and  rising  on  each 
side.  Exactly  where  American  poetry  now  is  in  the 
curve,  each  critic  at  home  and  abroad  is  at  liberty  to 
determine  if  he  can,  and  whether  the  movement  is  down- 
ward or  upward.  In  this  calculation  personal  equations 
will  have  to  be  taken  into  account,  with  poetic  theories 
innumerable.  Meanwhile  it  is  safe  to  wait  until  the 
general  voice  is  lifted  up  with  one  accord  announcing 
that  a  great  poet  or  age  of  poetry  has  come  into  the  world. 
Just  now  the  nation  may  console  itself  with  the  reflection 
that  the  muse  is  showing  impartiality  in  her  favors  on 
both  sides  of  the  ocean,  and  that  England  is  setting  us 
no  copy  worth  incurring  the  old  charge  of  imitation.  She 
offers  the  opinion  through  one  of  her  critics  that  our  poets 
are  contenting  themselves  with  writing  gracefully  in  sim- 
ple and  ordinary  lyric  measures  without  vulgarism  or 
commonness,  without  epic  or  dramatic  ambitions,  or  flam- 
boyancy  and  spread-eagleism,  and  with  good  technique 
and  wide  culture.  All  of  which  should  be  received  in 
the  spirit  in  which  it  is  offered,  a  remarkable  contrast  to 
that  which  prevailed  with  respect  to  American  poetry, 
and  prose  also,  at  the  beginning  of  the  century.  It  is 
another  indication  that  international  comity  is  getting 
established  in  letters  as  in  other  matters. 


At  the  Close  of  the  1 9th  Century     443 

Among  miscellaneous  forms  of  literature  must  be  reck- 
oned contributions  to  magazines  which  are  not  included 
in  fiction  and  history,  biography  and  poetry 

i^Pi  T  •••  Criticism. 

already  mentioned.  Of  these  literary  criticism 
is  prominent  in  the  larger  meaning  of  comment  about 
books  and  authors.  Without  it  the  modern  reader  would 
be  more  bewildered  than  he  is  in  the  snowstorm  of  leaves 
which  fall  from  the  press  continually.  Fortunately  he  is 
not  obliged  to  read  a  hundredth  part  to  know  all  that  is 
worth  knowing  about  contemporary  production.  If  one 
or  two  daily,  weekly,  or  monthly  serials  of  recognized 
value  are  not  enough  for  this  purpose,  a  reading  club  or 
library  files  will  furnish  sufficient  information  and  guide 
the  reader  to  the  best  of  what  he  likes  best.  The  danger 
is  that  the  comment  about  a  book  be  taken  instead  of  the 
book  itself  in  the  desire  to  know  a  little  of  everything. 
Courage  to  be  ignorant  of  many  things  is  essential  to 
those  who  would  know  much  of  any  one  thing.  One  of 
the  embarrassments  in  attending  a  world's  fair  is  to  learn 
the  number  of  sights  which  your  neighbors  saw  and  you 
did  not.  So  the  books  which  half  a  dozen  of  them  taken 
together  have  read,  make  one  seem  illiterate  unless  he 
can  retaliate  with  a  similar  variety.  After  all  in  the 
study  of  literature  it  is  the  book  itself  rather  than  the 
book  about  it  that  is  to  be  the  principal  object  of  atten- 
tion. But  to  know  one  book  from  another  in  the  same 
class,  to  find  the  best  and  perceive  why  it  is  best,  is  what 
literary  history  and  criticism  help  the  reader  to  do.  They 
save  him  time,  trouble,  and  fruitless  wandering.  The 
stranger  in  a  city  who  does  not  know  where  to  find  the 
best  of  what  he  needs,  and  the  person  in  a  great  library 
who  does  not  know  what  he  should  read,  are  equally 


444  American  Literature 

pitiable  contemplations.     What  a  directory  is  to  the  one, 

literary  comment  may  be  to  the  other.     This  is  largely 

furnished  by  review  columns  in  journals  and  by  critical 

articles  in  magazines,  some  of  them  valuable  as  literature 

in  their  way. 

Other  forms  of  literature  find  their  place  in  the  modern 

periodical,  which  after  a  growth  of  a  century  and  a  half 

has  come  to  be  a  kind  of  perennial  twelve- 
Magazines. 

volume  library  for  the  people.     Through  their 

abundant  patronage  it  is  able  to  command  the  best 
talent,  and  frequently  secures  the  first  publication  of 
what  subsequently  appears  in  book  form  and  is  sold  by 
the  ten  thousand.  Political  and  literary  history,  biogra- 
phy, fiction,  poetry,  science,  travel,  art,  architecture,  edu- 
cation and  religion  may  all  be  represented  in  a  single 
number  of  a  monthly  magazine.  Besides,  every  one  of 
these  subjects  and  their  subdivisions  have  their  special 
serials  so  soon  as  a  few  hundred  interested  persons  wish 
to  learn  more  of  their  specialty.  Even  the  automobile 
has  its  magazine.  This  periodical  literature,  intended  to 
epitomize  and  diffuse  knowledge,  has  become  so  vast  that 
abridgments  and  summaries  of  itself  have  been  called  for, 
and  reviews  must  be  reviewed.  But  when  condensation 
passes  a  certain  point  what  becomes  of  literature  as  dis- 
tinguished from  information  ?  Fortunately  the  serials  of 
the  largest  circulation  are  holding  fast  to  the  best  stand- 
ards in  letters,  which  is  another  way  of  saying  that  the 
best  intelligence  of  the  nation  is  upholding  them  in  this 
course  by  their  demand  for  the  best.  Subscription  lists 
are  trustworthy  indications  of  popular  tastes. 

From  the  magazine  it  is  but  a  single  step  to  the  news- 
paper, which  everybody  reads  who  is  fit  to  be  a  citizen. 


At  the  Close  of  the  19th  Century     445 

The  studious  cannot  afford  to  slight  it,  the  man  who  is 
too  busy  to  read  anything  else  will  look  for  what  con- 
cerns him  most,  and  the  laborer  will  end  the 

.  .  IT  Newspapers. 

day  with  its  news,  it  is  not  the  literature 
of  power  so  much  as  of  the  antecedent  knowledge,  and 
this  often  of  things  not  to  be  remembered.  How  far 
news  columns  contribute  to  literature  depends  upon  the 
reader,  as  the  honey  value  of  a  field  depends  largely  upon 
the  bee.  But  more  and  more  the  newspaper  is  encroach- 
ing upon  the  domain  of  the  magazine,  as  this  has  upon 
the  precinct  of  books.  It  is  becoming  the  library  of  the 
populace  on  the  instalment  plan,  a  cyclopedia  of  infor- 
mation and  literature,  from  the  advertisement  to  the  edi- 
torial, and  whatever  selections  may  be  made  from  the 
World  of  letters.  This  itself  is  no  longer  a  kingdom  and 
an  aristocracy,  but  a  republic  and  a  democracy.  It  has 
been  revolutionized  by  the  newspaper  for  all  the  people. 
And  while  they  are  profited,  literature  is  benefited.  Its 
field  is  enlarged  by  wider  appreciation,  and  its  usefulness 
augmented  by  learning  what  the  multitude  can  be  en- 
couraged to  read. 

First  of  all,  their  own  American  literature.  There  is 
none  better  than  its  best.  Exploration  in  the  land  of  let- 
ters may  begin,  as  in  a  wilderness,  at  the  mouth  of  a  river, 
and  move  toward  its  source.  It  is  not  far  up  the  delta 
to  the  English  stream,  and  then  the  course  is  clear  until 
the  language  becomes  unintelligible.  Between  the  six- 
teenth century  and  the  fourteenth  all  needful  antiquities 
will  be  found.  The  ordinary  reader  will  be  content  with 
the  authors  of  the  last  three  hundred  years  in  America 
and  England. 


XXXVIII 

AMERICAN  HUMOR 

Humor  has  been  as  much  defined  as  poetry  or  literature, 
with  a  similar  indefiniteness  of  result.  The  venerable 
Development  ^^^  discarded  theory  that  one's  disposition  and 
of  Humor.  temper  depend  upon  the  combination  of  four 
principal  humors  or  moistures  of  the  body  satisfied  the 
ancients  for  generations ;  but  good  blood  must  have  had 
a  struggle  to  maintain  cheerfulness  against  black  bile, 
sluggish  phlegm,  and  irascible  choler.  It  would  be  inter- 
esting to  know  what  proportions  of  melancholy,  apathy, 
and  anger  were  supposed  to  be  conducive  to  a  sense  of 
the  incongruous  and  ridiculous,  which  itself  finally  appro- 
priated the  name  of  Humor  by  preeminence,  and  kept  it 
after  it  had  been  lost  by  the  four  original  fluids.  Very 
likely  the  infusion  of  splenetic  elements  was  small  for 
genuine  humor,  although  for  wit,  irony,  and  satire  the 
formula  may  have  varied.     Humor  is  now  apt  to  be  dry. 

Modern  reflection  is  disposed  to  assign  the  origin  and 
causes  of  humor  to  intellectual  and  spiritual  combina- 
tions, subject  possibly  and  occasionally  to  such  corporeal 
disturbances  as  indigestion  and  other  ailments,  when  the 
most  brilliant  witticisms  may  seem  meaningless  and  un- 
timely. In  short,  humor  is  now  regarded  as  a  personal 
atmosphere,  charged  as  with  an  electric  fluid  which  glows 
and  gleams  without   scorching  and  blasting.     When  it 

446 


American  Humor  447 

flashes  and  strikes  it  gets  other  names  according  to  the 
nearness  of  the  bolt  to  us  and  ours,  and  according  to  the 
damage  done.  But  it  is  the  playful  and  harmless  mood 
of  it  that  is  now  to  be  observed. 

A  backward  view  might  make  one  believe  that  modem 
humor  is  the  result  of  an  evolutionary  process.  The 
practical  entered  into  the  jokes  of  our  predecessors  as  it 
does  into  that  of  children.  It  is  not  necessary  to  hold 
that  the  humor  of  primitive  man  was  largely  malignant, 
and  akin  to  brute  exultation  over  a  fallen  foe,  in  order  to 
show  that  there  has  been  a  great  advance  from  the  cave- 
dweller's  notion  of  humor  to  that  of  the  present  day. 
One  need  go  no  farther  back  than  Ben  Franklin's  time,  or 
to  the  Puritan  age  at  most,  to  learn  that  a  certain  rawness 
belonged  to  the  humor  of  our  ancestors  which  has  been 
eliminated  from  the  current  article  in  this  generation. 
Sympathy,  humanity,  and  a  nice  sense  of  the  fitness  of 
things  have  entered  into  an  appreciation  of  even  the 
incongruous  and  the  ludicrous,  so  that  humor  no  longer 
laughs  at  misfortune,  but  discriminates  between  genuine 
worth  fallen  by  mishap,  and  pretence  and  pomposity 
floundering  in  the  mire.  In  a  word,  humor  has  become 
civilized  with  other  elemental  traits,  and  refined  with  the 
social  improvement  of  the  classes.  Naturally  there  will 
always  be  different  grades  of  it  in  any  community  or 
nation.  The  rustic  and  the  urban  will  have  diverse  stand- 
ards, as  the  child  and  his  elders ;  but  the  average  sense  of 
what  is  amusing  keeps  pace  with  the  advance  of  a  people 
in  sympathy  and  humanity.  The  following  incident  from 
a  remote  age  indicates  the  progress  that  humor  has  made, 
as  well  as  the  different  estimates  of  it  at  the  time  by  the 
boor  and  the  nobleman. 


44^  American  Literature 

"  A  gentleman  asked  a  shepherd  whether  the  river  was  forda- 
ble  or  not.  *  Yes/  says  he ;  but  going  to  try  he  flounced  in 
over  head  and  ears.  *  Why,  thou  rogue,'  says  he,  '  did  you  not 
tell  me  it  might  be  passed  over  1 '  '  Truly,  sir,  I  thought  so, 
for  my  geese  go  over  and  back  every  day.* " 

The  next  marks  a  stage  or  two  forward : 

*'  One  seeing  another  wear  a  threadbare  cloak,  asked  him 
whether  his  cloak  was  not  sleepy  or  no  1  *  Why  do  you  ask  1 ' 
said  the  other.  *  Because,*  saith  he,  *  I  think  it  hath  not  had  a 
nap  this  seven  years.'  " 

The  growth  of  English  humor  in  kindly  qualities  might 
be  traced  alongside  the  development  of  its  people  and  soil 
from  barbarism  and  bogs.  A  good  deal  of  horse-play 
would  be  found  prevailing  down  to  recent  times,  some 
heaviness  at  first,  as  might  be  expected  in  a  damp  climate, 
and  now  and  then  bluntness  or  sharpness  as  of  Swift  and 
the  reviewers.  But  Addison  and  Lamb,  Thackeray  and 
Dickens  stand  for  later  stages  in  the  progress  towards  a 
broad  and  genial  outlook  at  the  inconsistencies,  inconse- 
quences, and  incoherencies  of  the  world  and  life  which 
furnish  food  for  humor.  The  final  product  to  date  has 
attained  to  present  race  qualities  in  health  and  heartiness, 
overflowing  with  good  spirits,  and  possessing  a  justness 
and  fineness  of  standards  in  humor,  as  in  literature,  which 
are  best  appreciated  when  observed  on  the  ground  and 
among  the  best  of  English  people,  rather  than  in  stray 
copies  of  comic  papers  which  are  not  improved  by  an 
Atlantic  voyage. 

It  is  not  needful  to  trace  the  derivation  of  American 
humor  from  the  British.  National  sentiment  would  insist 
that  we  have  been  here  long  enough  to  have  a  character- 
istic humor  of  our  own ;  and  most  foreigners  who  have 


American  Humor  449 

travelled  from  east  to  west  and  from  north  to  south,  are 
ready  to  assent  to  the  assertion.  This  humor  has,  how- 
ever, so  many  aspects  that  they  find  it  as  difficult  to  unify 
them  as  to  comprehend  how  so  many  States  can  be  a  unit. 
Indeed,  such  variety  renders  characterization  of  American 
humor  perilous,  since  local  peculiarities  often  obscure 
general  traits.  Still,  travel  and  intercommunication  keep 
the  coin  of  wit  current  and  tolerably  uniform ;  a  condition 
to  which  commercial  travellers  incidentally  contribute. 

Chronologically  and  geographically  American  humor 
started  along  the  eastern  seaboard  and  radiated  westward 
and  southward.  It  also  began  with  unmixed  Early  Humor 
English  stock,  absorbing  other  races  afterward.  "*  ^menca. 
It  is  safe,  therefore,  to  take  Yankee  humor  as  representa- 
tive of  the  early  form.  Of  course  it  would  be  English  in 
primitive  New  England,  but  without  the  jovial,  rollicking 
spirit  which  belonged  to  the  Cavalier  rather  than  to  the 
Puritan.  Lowell  certainly  was  not  a  sympathizer  with 
Cromwell  and  the  Commonwealth  when  he  wrote: 

"  A  strange  hybrid  indeed  did  circumstances  beget  here  in 
the  new  world  upon  the  old  Puritan  stock,  and  the  earth  never 
saw  before  such  a  niggard  geniality,  such  calculating  fanaticism, 
such  cast-iron  enthusiasm,  such  sour-faced  humor,  such  close- 
fisted  generosity." 

What  kind  of  humor,  then,  may  be  expected  in  such  a 
people  ?  —  for  all  these  traits  were  not  lacking  in  the  first 
two  hundred  years,  and  have  not  yet  wholly  disappeared. 
It  must  have  been  grim  at  first.  "Living  between  the 
Indian  devil  and  the  deep  sea "  there  was  not  much  to 
excite  uproarious  laughter.  Heresy  and  the  toleration  of 
it,  with  any  imported  fashions  of  behavior  from  London, 
were  about  the  only  provocatives  of  a  humor  not  always 

29 


450  American  Literature 

genial.  Ward  of  Ipswich,  preacher  and  law-maker,  rhym- 
ster  and  punster,  was  its  first  exponent.  He  must  have 
been  to  his  solemn  neighbors  in  Essex  as  "  Life "  or 
"  Punch  "  to  the  present  generation.  The  "  Cobler  "  here, 
and  the  *'  Cobler's  Boy "  in  England  doubtless  caused  a 
sanctified  chuckle  among  the  godly  on  the  Bay,  and  a 
broad  laugh  by  Thomas  Fuller,  his  contemporary  and  kin- 
dred wit  across  the  water. 

"Perhaps  thou  accountest  a  pulpit  a  box,  and  I'll  tell  thee 
a  brief  story  to  that  effect.  A  little  child  being  at  sermon  and 
observing  the  minister  very  vehement  in  his  words  and  gesture, 
cried  out,  '  Mother,  why  don't  the  people  let  the  man  out  of  the 
box?'  Then  I  entreat  thee  behave  thyself  well  in  preaching, 
lest  men  say  truly,  this  is  Jack  in  a  box." 

And  for  a  sample  of  Puritan  punning : 

"  Marmalade  may  marre  my  Lady ;  me  it  shall  not.  March 
pane  shall  not  be  my  arch  bane." 

But  this  was  tame  wit  for  the  Agawam  satirist.  And 
there  are  other  examples  whose  texture  was  better  suited 
to  that  rough  age  than  to  ours,  having  always  an  eccle- 
siastico-political  flavor. 

Tl^re  were  many  of  these  before  Cotton  Mather  gave  a 
fresh  impulse  to  sacred  punning  and  solemn  humor.  He 
was  not  unconscious  that  he  had  a  gift  for  "  smelling  out 
the  odoriferous  flowers  of  fancy,  the  jerks  of  invention." 
These  consisted  chiefly  in  rearranging  the  letters  of  dis- 
tinguished names,  as  he  remarks : 

"  There  is  a  certain  little  sport  of  wit  in  anagrammatizing  the 
names  of  men  which  has  sometimes  afforded  reflections  very 
monitory  or  very  satyrical.  But  of  all  the  anagrammatizers 
that  have  been  trying  their  fancies  since  the  days  of  our  first 
father  I  believe  there  never  was  that  made  so  many  or  so  nimbly 


American  Humor  451 

as  OUT  Mr.  Wilson,  who  would  force  devout  instructions  out  of 
his  anagrams." 

Such  examples  had  countless  imitators,  and  the  divines 
of  New  England  at  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century 
vied  with  each  other  in  twisting  their  prenomens  and  cog- 
nomens into  significant  phrases,  and  expanding  them  into 
sentences,  generally  Latin. 

Mather  Byles  was  a  worthy  successor  of  his  namesake, 
and  distinguished  himself  as  a  punster  of  more  secular 
tastes,  inclining  to  a  wit  which  was  nourished  at  classical 
fountains  and  was  often  practical;  as  when  the  town 
councilmen  got  stalled  in  a  mudhole  in  front  of  his  house, 
and  he  came  out  remarking,  "Gentlemen,  I  have  often 
complained  to  you  of  this  nuisance  without  any  attention 
being  paid  to  it,  and  now  I  am  very  glad  to  see  you  stir- 
ring in  this  matter." 

Franklin  was  the  first  American  humorist  to  break 
away  from  the  contortions  of  his  predecessors,  as  he  also 
did  from  their  literary  prejudices.  His  genuine  and 
abundant  humor  ran  far  from  ecclesiastical  channels,  fol- 
lowing the  course  of  the  new  intellectual  and  social  drift 
which  he  had  largely  set  in  motion.  "Poor  Eichard's" 
wit  is  mostly  worldly  wisdom,  and  the  humor  of  the 
"  Autobiography  "  is  that  of  personal  revelation,  but  in  his 
letters  and  other  papers  there  is  often  an  instructive  and 
imaginative  view  of  evil  that  is  worth  pages  of  homily,  as 
in  the  following  on  the  misery  and  ethics  of  warfare : 

"A  yoimg  angel  being  sent  to  this  world  for  the  first  time, 
arrived  in  the  middle  of  a  long  day  of  fighting  between  the 
fleets  of  Rodney  and  De  Grasse.  When  through  the  clouds  of 
smoke  he  saw  decks  covered  with  the  mangled  limbs  and  bodies 
of  dead  and  dying  and  the  destruction  the  crews  were  eagerly 


452  American  Literature 

dealing  each  other^  he  turned  angrily  to  his  guide  and  said, 
'  You  blundering  blockhead,  you  undertook  to  conduct  me  to 
the  earth,  and  you  have  brought  me  into  hell.'  ^'No,  sir,'  says 
the  guide,  '  I  have  made  no  mistake ;  this  is  really  the  earth,  and 
these  are  men.  Devils  never  treat  one  another  in  this  cruel 
manner ;  they  have  more  sense  and  more  of  what  men  (vainly) 
call  humanity.' " 

His  proposition  for  the  American  army  to  go  back  to 
aboriginal  bows  and  arrows  —  at  a  time  when  gunpowder 
could  not  be  easily  obtained  —  appears  to  have  a  smile 
behind  it  notwithstanding  the  six  sound  reasons  he  brings 
forward  for  the  adoption  of  primitive  weapons.  John 
Adams  represented  contemporary  opinion  when  he  said 
that  Franklin  was  a  "  great  genius,  a  great  wit,  a  great 
humorist,  a  great  satirist,  and  a  great  politician,"  and 
added,  "  That  he  was  a  great  philosopher,  moralist,  or 
statesman  is  more  questionable." 

There  were  provocatives  of  humor  during  the  Revolu- 
tion despite  the  sufferings  of  the  troops  and  the  dire  straits 
of  the  country.  The  very  grotesqueness  of  the  soldiers' 
misery  sometimes  raised  humorous  comment  among  them- 
selves and  oftener  among  their  foes,  while  the  blunders  of 
unskilled  officers  and  legislators  caused  ripples  of  ridicule 
to  spread  over  the  land.  Some  of  this  humor  is  embalmed 
in  ballads  and  broadsides,  and  some  was  too  broad  for 
print ;  but  American  misfortunes  were  never  so  great  as 
to  extinguish  cheerful  wit  and  banter. 

It  was  well  into  the  nineteenth  century  when  the  pro- 
fessional humorist  appeared.  The  village  wit  and  the  funny 
Professional  ™^^  °^  ^^®  towu  had  always  existed,  and  the 
Humorists,  humorist  who  took  to  type  was  the  state  or 
national  representative,  the  most  diverting  man  of  all,  hav- 
ing also  a  literary  knack. 


American  Humor  453 

One  of  the  first  of  these  was  Judge  Haliburton  of  Nova 
Scotia,  who  made  himself  at  home  here  as  Sam  Slick, 
Yankee  clock-maker  and  pedler,  whose  shrewd  bargains 
were  more  appreciated  in  the  States  and  even  in  England 
than  in  Halifax.  According  to  his  appreciative  biographers 
many  bright  sayings  of  his  successors  have  a  marvellous 
resemblance  to  originals  by  the  witty  judge.  The  Indian 
who  explained  to  the  governor  expressing  surprise  at 
seeing  him  drunk  so  soon  again,  that  it  was  "  all  same 
old  drunk ; "  the  country  girl  who  "  guessed  she  was  n't 
brought  up  at  all,  but  growed  up;"  the  recommenda- 
tion to  hypnotize  passengers  as  a  preventive  of  sea-sick- 
ness ;  the  Bad  Boy  of  the  Letter  Bag,  and  other  characters 
and  incidents  have  found  later  counterparts,  so  that 
**Artemas  Ward"  seems  to  have  had  reason  for  pro- 
nouncing him  the  "Father  of  the  American  School  of 
humor."  Even  the  illustrations  of  "  The  Clockmaker " 
are  said  to  have  supplied  the  conventional  type  of  "  Uncle 
Sam  "  with  furry  hat,  long  goatee,  and  striped  trousers. 

An  immediate  successor,  Seba  Smith,  came  from  a 
nearer  "  down  east,"  where  he  made  the  first  daily  paper 
beyond  Boston  attractive  by  the  then  famous  "Jack 
Downing  Letters,"  now  faintly  reminiscent  of  local  and 
national  politics  as  far  back  as  Jackson,  Polk,  and  other 
celebrities  of  his  "  Thirty  Years  out  of  the  Senate."  As 
illuminating  political  history  and  illustrating  the  genuine 
Yankee  dialect,  so  often  distorted,  the  lucubrations  of  the 
"  Major  "  will  always  have  a  value  of  their  own,  while 
their  humor  is  redolent  of  the  Maine  woods  and  pastures. 

"  It  was  a  very  unlucky  hit  when  President  Polk  sent  old 
Zach  Taylor  down  to  Mexico.  He  was  n't  the  right  man.  It 
can 't  be  helped  now,  but  it 's  like  to  be  the  ruin  of  our  party. 


454  American  Literature 

The  Democratic  party  haint  seen  a  well  day  since  Taylor  first 
begun  his  Pally  Alto  battles ;  and  now  we  are  all  shiverin'  as  bad 
as  if  we  had  the  fever  and  agay.  I  don't  know,  after  all,  but 
this  annexin'  Mexico  will  turn  out  to  be  an  unlucky  blow ; 
for  what  will  it  profit  the  Democratic  party  if  it  gain  the  whole 
world  and  lose  the  presidency  1 " 

This  and  more  down  to  Pierce  and  Buchanan,  with  early 
anxieties  about  Cuba,  is  all  suggestive  of  the  first  series  of 
"  Biglow  Papers,"  and  of  what  political  humor  and  satire 
were  to  accomplish  in  moulding  public  sentiment. 

With  the  reformatory  verse  of  Lowell  seems  to  have 
been  introduced  full-fledged  the  element  of  bad  spelling. 
Dialect  and     ^^  phouetic  Orthography,  as  its  serious  advo- 

Bad  Spelling.     ^^^^^    ^^^    ^^^    -^        rpj^-g    ^^^    ^^^    eUOUgh  for 

once  in  "  Homer  Wilbur  "  and  "  Bird-o*-freedom  Sawin," 
because  there  was  something  more  than  horse  sense 
beneath  the  Yankee  lingo;  but  how  far  phonetics  are 
essential  humor  may  be  a  question,  —  except  when 
they  are  taken  seriously  as  a  reformatory  movement.  Too 
much  is  apt  to  tire,  to  say  nothing  of  unconsciously  cor- 
rupting one's  orthography,  as  street-car  advertisements 
may  confuse  one's  syntax  and  confound  his  prosody.  The 
tacit  apology  is,  that  wisdom  is  heightened  by  contrast 
with  illiteracy,  as  in  real  life.  Unfortunately  profundity 
is  often  obscured  by  the  process,  and  attention  to  real 
sapience  is  diverted  to  distorted  spelling.  The  chief 
pioneer  of  it  seems  to  have  apprehended  its  incidental 
effect  when  he  made  the  reviewer  say  in  the  "Uni- 
versal Littery  Universe  " :  "  We  rejoice  to  meet  with  an 
author  national  enough  to  break  away  from  the  slavish 
deference,  too  common  among  us,  to  English  grammar 
and  orthography." 


American  Humor  455 

This,  it  will  be  remembered,  is  the  paragraph  in  which 
the  fashion  was  introduced  in  full  feather : 

"  Our  Hosea  wuz  down  to  Boston  last  week,  and  he  see  a 
cruetin  Sarjunt  a  struttin  round  as  popler  as  a  hen  with  1  chick- 
ing, with  2  fellers  a  drumin  and  fifin  arter  him  like  all  nater. 
The  sarjunt  he  thout  Hosea  hed  n't  gut  his  i  teeth  cut  cos  he 
looked  a  kindo's  though  he  'd  jest  com  down,  so  he  cal  'lated  to 
hook  him  in,  but  Hosy  wood  n't  take  none  o'  his  sarse  for  all  he 
hed  much  as  20  Rooster's  tales  stuck  onto  his  hat  and  eenamost 
enuf  brass  bobbin  up  and  down  on  his  shoulders  and  figureed  onto 
his  coat  and  trousis,  let  alone  wut  nater  hed  sot  in  his  featers,  to 
make  a  6  pounder  on." 

And  then  three  hundred  and  fifty  pages  more  of  prose 
and  verse  in  which  the  spelling  is  but  a  fraction  of  the 
humor,  wit,  and  satire.  But  its  success  started  a  bad 
spelling  school.  Imitation  was  easier  in  the  superficial 
characteristic  than  in  the  deeper  ones.  However,  some 
excellent  work  has  been  done  by  humorists  whose  skill  has 
compassed  something  beyond  juggling  with  vocabularies. 

One  of  these  was  David  Ross  Locke,  better  known  as 
"Petroleum  Vesuvius  Nasby,"  whose  letters  and  lec- 
tures on    the  woes   of   Democracy  Northern 

Nasby. 

and  Southern  during  the  Civil  War  and  after- 
ward belong  to  the  influences  which  were  formative 
of  public  opinion  in  a  critical  time.  President  Lincoln 
kept  the  pamphlets  near  by  for  diversion  in  hours 
of  gloom,  and  Charles  Sumner  consented  to  write 
an  introduction  to  the  entire  collection.  As  preacher, 
postmaster,  and  politician  of  the  "  poor  white  trash " 
class,  Nasby  mirrors  the  slow  transition  from  con- 
ditions previous  to  the  war  to  those  which  were  finally 
established.  He  does  this  in  a  hundred  and  ninety 
chapters    of    letters,  addresses,   and  meditations  which 


45 6  American  Literature 

are  a  humorous  comment  on  the  history  of  ten  dis- 
turbed years,  constituting  the  "  Nasby  Papers,"  to  which 
were  added  other  volumes  for  ten  years  more.  In  this 
instance  the  orthography  is  what  might  be  expected  from 
the  character  personated.  It  is  as  good  as  the  principles 
he  maintains  and  the  whiskey  he  drinks.  But  the 
essence  of  his  wit  is  not  in  the  abbreviation  of  his  words. 
It  is  rather  in  the  frankness  with  which  a  Northern 
sympathizer  with  Southern  interests  and  institutions  in  the 
middle  of  the  last  century  unbosoms  himself  as  the  for- 
tunes of  his  party  go  up  and  down,  and  the  spirits  of  the 
postmaster  at  the  "  Confederit  X  Eoads  "  rise  and  fall  — 
according  to  the  supply  of  corn  juice  from  a  neighboring 
distillery.  This  is  mildly  amusing  for  a  dozen  chapters ; 
but  before  the  hundredth  is  reached  provincialisms  grow 
monotonous,  and  features  of  discourse  repeat  themselves 
like  those  of  the  servants  on  patriarch  Guttle's  plantation. 
But  it  must  be  remembered  that  the  series  appeared  at 
intervals  during  several  years  and  was  taken  in  brief  in- 
stallments, keeping  up  a  prolonged  smile  throughout  half 
the  land.    It  was  1869  when  this  appeared : 

"  I  Lev  it  at  last !  I  see  a  lite  !  I  shall  not  go  to  Noo  York, 
.  nor  shall  I  be  forced  to  leave  the  Corners,  at  least  permanently. 
I  hev  at  last  struck  ile  !  I  shel  live  like  a  gentleman ;  I  shel 
pay  for  my  Ukker,  and  be  on  an  ekal  footin  with  other  men. 
Bascom,  whose  smile  is  happiness,  but  whose  frown  is  death, 
will  smile  onto  me  wunst  more.  To  Miss  Susan  Murphy  I  owe 
my  present  happiness.  The  minit  I  notist  that  she  had  put  in  a 
claim  agin  the  Government  for  property  yoused  doorin  the 
war  by  Fedral  soljery,  I  to-wunst  saw  where  my  finanshel  salva- 
tion was.  Immejetly  I  histed  my  shingle  ez  a  agent  to  prossekoot 
claims  agin  the  Government  for  property  destroyed  or  yoosed 
doorin  the  late  onpleasantnes  by  Fedral  troops,  and  in  two 
hours  I  hed  biznis  on  my  hands,  and  money  in  my  pockets.    Ez 


American  Humor  457 

a  matter  of  course,  I  insisted  upon  a  retainin  fee  uv  ten  dollars 
in  each  case.  .  .  .  Almost  every  white  citizen  of  the  Corners 
has  a  claim.  Some  hundred  or  more  who  never  hed  anything 
before  or  doorin  the  war,  and  who  are  in  the  same  condishen 
now,  hev  put  in  claims  rangin  from  $10,000  to  $20,000,  ofFerin 
me  the  half  I  git.  They  kin  swear  to  each  other's  loyalty, 
which  will  redoose  the  cost  uv  evidence  to  a  mere  nominal 
sum." 

"  Josh  Billings,"  otherwise  Henry  W.  Shaw,  was  another 
dislocator  of  dictionary  words,  but  his  humor  was  shrewd 
and  inclusive  enough  to  cover  any  eccentricity 
of   form  in  which   it   might   be  clothed.     It 
would  have  been  just  as  effective  in  conventional  Eng- 
lish, as  may  be  seen  by  translating  the  following : 

"Common  sense  is  most  ginnerally  dispised  bi  those  who 
haint  got  it.'* 

"  Men  don't  never  seem  to  git  tired  ov  talking  about  them- 
selfs,  but  i  hav  heard  them  when  i  thought  they  showed  signs 
ov  weekness." 

"  As  in  a  game  ov  cards,  so  in  the  game  ov  life,  we  must  play 
what  is  dealt  tew  us  ;  and  the  glory  consists  not  so  mutch  in 
winning,  as  in  playing  a  poor  hand  well." 

"  Hunting  happiness  is  a  good  deal  like  hunting  crows ;  when 
yu  haint  got  yure  gun  with  yu,  yu  kan  alwas  git  a  grate  deal 
nearer  tew  the  crows." 

Still,  no  humorist  has  packed  more  homespun  wisdom 
into  small  compass  than  this  one ;  and  there  is  sounder 
philosophy  on  the  conduct  of  life  in  some^  of  his  short 
chapters  of  proverbs  than  in  some  treatises  upon  ethics 
that  might  be  mentioned.  He  is  always  on  the  right 
side,  and  usually  upon  the  sensible  side  in  advocating  it, 
uttering  as  little  nonsense  as  can  be  expected  from  one 
who  ranges  over  every  department  of  human  interest. 

While   some  of   our  humorists  trace  their   lineage  to 


45 3  American  Literature 

"Mrs.  Ramsbottom,"  exercising  her  woman's  rights  in 
the  matter  of  spelling,  there  was  one  who  could  point 
to  "  Mrs.  Malaprop,"  in  her  pretentious  igno- 
rance playing  with  words  too  large  for  safety 
as  an  accessory  of  wit.  Such  persons  occur  just  often 
enough  in  every  community,  or  recur  in  one's  memory, 
to  warrant  the  employment  of  this  eccentricity  as  an 
element  of  humor.  Shillaber  seized  upon  it  at  an  early 
day,  and  "  Mrs.  Partington  "  has  become  the  name  of  every 
one  who  **  commuses  "  a  newspaper,  builds  a  "  pizarro  "  to 
his  house,  or  sells  his  "  right  of  iniquity." 

"  *  How  limpid  you  walk !  *  said  a  voice  behind  us ;  *  what  is 
the  cause  of  your  lameness  ? '  *  Gout/  said  we,  briefly,  almost 
surhly.  '  Dear  me/  said  she ;  *  you  are  highly  flavored  !  It  was 
only  rich  people  and  epicacs  in  living  that  had  the  gout  in 
olden  times.'  *  Ah !  *  we  growled.  *  Poor  soul ! '  she  continued, 
*  the  best  remedy  I  know  for  it  is  an  embarkation  of  Roman 
wormwood  and  lobelia,  though  some  say  a  cranberry  poultice  is 
best,  and  whether  either  is  a  rostrum  for  the  gout  or  not  I  don't 
know.  If  it  was  a  fraction  of  the  arm,  I  could  know  jest  what 
to  subscribe.' " 

These  "  Partington  Pearls/'  however,  are  but  a  small 
portion  of  the  author's  contributions  to  the  humorous  lit- 
erature of  his  time.  His  stories  in  prose  and  verse  have 
an  atmosphere  of  quiet  mirth  running  through  them,  ap- 
pealing to  a  people  whose  smiling  has  been  done  inside  for 
generations.  As  an  early  writer  of  the  short,  amusing 
story  he  showed  that  it  is  not  a  recent  invention,  and  as 
an  inculcator  of  a  genial  domestic  philosophy  by  ludi- 
crous portrayal  of  scenes  apt  to  occur  through  misunder- 
standing, he  became  a  vindicator  of  humor  as  a  beneficent 
agent  in  families  and  communities. 

There  was  a  time  when  Charles  Farrar  Browne,  alias 


American  Humor  459 

"  Artemus  Ward,"  was  considered  the  greatest  of  American 
humorists,  especially  by  Englishmen  when  they  fairly 
comprehended  the  nature  of  his  wit,  accepting  ..Artemus 
it  as  something  native  to  a  new  and  strange  ^^^■" 
country.  In  his  capacity  of  lecture-showman  he  could 
make  his  witticisms  clear  by  repetition  and  variation,  and 
London  audiences  saw  the  point  of  his  offer  "  to  call  at 
their  houses  and  explain  any  jokes  they  might  not  under- 
stand." Why  not,  if  so  eminent  a  man  as  John  Bright 
did  really  remark  :  "  I  must  say  I  cannot  see  what  people 
find  to  enjoy  in  this  lecture.  The  information  is  meagre 
and  is  presented  in  a  desultory,  disconnected  manner." 
When  it  is  remembered  that  these  so-called  lectures  were 
nothing  but  a  string  of  droll  observations,  the  states- 
man's comment  becomes  almost  as  amusing  as  Ward 
himself.  When  the  sayings  which  had  been  accumu- 
lating in  various  newspapers  were  gathered  in  a  volume 
their  distinctive  character  became  clear.  It  is  said  that 
he  used  to  laugh  uproariously  as  he  was  composing  them. 
Certainly  they  made  others  laugh,  more  in  the  day  of 
their  publication,  perhaps,  than  they  do  now.  He  out- 
spelled  all  his  predecessors,  and  in  a  continuous  explosion 
of  ridiculous  surprises  outdid  them  all.  His  show  was  al- 
ways "  moral,"  and  his  position  on  the  sensible  as  well  as 
the  right  side  of  most  questions.  Of  all  his  utterances  the 
chapter  on  the  Mormon  is  probably  the  best  remembered, 
while  that  on  the  Prince  of  Wales  has  an  interest  which 
has  lingered  forty  years  and  is  now  revived. 

"*  Albert  Edard,  I  must  go,  but  previs  to  doin  so  I  will 
observe  that  you  soot  me.  Yure  a  good  feller,  Albert  Edard,  & 
tho  I  'm  agin  Princes  as  a  gineral  thing,  I  must  say  I  like  the 
cut  of  your  Gib.     When  you  git  to  be  King  try  and  be  as  good 


460  American  Literature 

a  man  a3  your  mother  has  been !  .  .  .  Albert  Edard,  adoo  ! '  I 
tuk  his  hand,  which  he  shook  warmly,  &  givin  him  a  perpetooal 
free  pars  to  my  show,  &  also  parses  to  take  hum  for  the  Queen 
&  Old  Albert,  I  put  on  my  hat  and  walkt  away.  *  Mrs.  Ward,' 
I  solilerquized,  as  I  walkt  along,  *  Mrs.  Ward,  ef  you  could  see 
your  husband  now,  just  as  he  proudly  emerjis  from  the  presunts 
of  the  futur  King  of  Ingland,  you  'd  be  sorry  you  called  him  a 
Beest  jest  becaws  he  cum  home  tired  1  nite  and  wantid  to  go 
to  bed  without  takin  orf  his  boots.' " 

In  a  single  chapter  on  American  humor  mention  must 
necessarily  be  limited  to  its  chief  representatives.  Other 
Other  names  will  occur  to  one  and  another  as  claim- 

Humonsts.  ^^^^  j^^  priority.  To  say  no  more  of  our  emi- 
nent humorous  authors  from  Irving  to  Holmes  than  has 
already  been  said  in  previous  chapters,  the  names  of  such 
professionals  as  "  Orpheus  C.  Kerr,"  "  BHl  Arp,"  "  Eli 
Perkins,"  "  Max  Adler,"  "  M.  Quad,"  "  The  Danbury  News 
Man,"  "  Mr.  Dooley,"  and  others,  will  occur  to  all  who  find 
mental  recreation  in  the  comic  paper  and  the  funny  col- 
umn. Besides,  almost  every  writer  of  eminence  in  the 
land  has  struck  out,  by  accident  or  otherwise,  at  least  one 
humorous  composition.  Then  there  are  a  few  writers 
underneath  whose  weighty  wisdom  is  a  continuous  flow 
of  humor,  which  wiU  bubble  to  the  surface  in  spite  of  all 
restraint  and  reserve.  They  get  the  name  of  humorists 
by  preeminence  when  they  deserve  something  more  and 
better.  They  are  not  taken  according  to  their  intention, 
because  readers  are  looking  for  mirth  only,  and  their 
lessons  of  wisdom  are  lost  in  the  merriment  they  cannot 
help  creating.  Let  the  prince  of  them,  "  Mark  Twain," 
stand  for  the  extremely  small  group  to  which  he  belongs, 
whose  genial  wisdom  and  wide  sympathy  are  none  the 
less  true  and  sincere  because  irradiated   with  generous 


American  Humor  461 

humor  and  radiant  with  kindly  wit.  Such  writers  do 
much  towards  eliminating  native  acidity  from  the  fruit  of 
a  dry  soil  and  a  sharp  climate,  giving  it  the  mellowness 
which  comes  with  prosperous  age,  and  the  sweetness  that 
charity  brings. 

Of  American  humor  in  general  it  may  be  said,  that  the 
tone  of  it  has  improved  with  that  of  our  literature  in  all 
departments.  The  ancient  frown  upon  things  Humor  of 
amusing  being  relaxed,  the  emancipated  Amer-  '^°*^*y- 
ican  at  first  burst  into  a  loud  laugh  at  wit  which  was 
sharp,  coarse,  or  practical,  especially  when  it  struck  his 
neighbor.  Then  came  the  day  of  prolix  stories  with 
pointed  endings,  and  the  trite  variations  of  putting  up  a 
stovepipe,  setting  a  hen,  entertaining  a  mother-in-law,  fol- 
lowed by  the  age  of  poor  puns  and  worse  spelling.  Mean- 
while and  always,  particularly  by  foreigners,  an  amazing 
extravagance  of  statement  has  been  regarded  as  a  main 
feature  of  our  humor.  A  better  period  is  now  well  ad- 
vanced, when  leisurely  meditation  has  been  made  possible, 
and  is  banishing  the  proverbially  sober  aspect  of  the  witty 
professional,  and  when  humor  is  becoming  broadly  perva- 
sive in  literature  rather  than  a  specialty,  or  when  so,  the 
recognized  good  fortune  of  a  few  high-class  journals.  Its 
character  is  likewise  growing  urbane  and  humane,  laugh- 
ing with  one  rather  than  at  one.  Its  mission  thus  becomes 
beneficent,  particularly  when  one  can  attain  to  the  height 
of  a  self-contemplation  which  will  permit  him  to  laugh 
with  himself  over  his  own  inconsistencies  and  incon- 
sequences, mistakes  and  surprises.  In  this  way  humor 
may  become  the  shortest  and  pleasantest  road  to  a  ser- 
viceable philosophy  of  living. 


A  Reading  List 

Requests  frequently  made  for  an  outline  of  reading  in  Ameri- 
can literature  have  led  to  a  compilation  of  the  following  list  of 
authors  and  titles.  While  it  is  intended  to  be  representative 
rather  than  exhaustive,  it  is  sufficient  to  illustrate  the  growth 
of  our  literature  and  to  satisfy  the  demands  of  the  ordinary 
reader. 

In  the  National  Period  the  succession  of  authors*  names  has 
generally  been  determined  by  the  date  of  the  first  book  pub- 
lished :  the  second  date,  when  given,  marks  the  limit  of  publi- 
cation. In  case  two  departments  are  represented,  as  prose 
and  verse,  history  and  fiction,  an  example  of  each  is  usually 
cited.  Others,  and  possibly  better,  may  be  found  in  library 
and  publishers'  catalogues;  but  these  will  serve  to  illustrate 
different  periods  and  sections,  styles  and  characters. 

COLONIAL  PERIOD. 

John  Smith.     True  Relation,  1608.    Other  writings  to  1631. 

William  Strachey.     A  True  Repertory  of  the  Wrack  and  Re- 
demption of  Sir  Thomas  Gates,  1610. 

Bradford  and  Winslow.    Relation  and  Journal,  1621. 

Edward  Winslow.    Good  News  from  New  England,  1624. 

George  Sandys.    Translation  of  Ovid's  Metamorphosis,  1621-24. 

William  Wood.     New  England's  Prospect,  1634. 

Thomas  Morton.     New  English  Canaan,  1637. 

Richard  Mather  and  others.    The  Bay  Psalm  Book,  1640. 

Thomas  Lechford.     Plain  Dealing,  1642. 

Roger  Williams.    The  Bloudy  Tenent  of  Persecution,  1644.   Others 
to  1676. 

Nathaniel  Ward.    The  Simple  Cobler  of  Agawam,  1647. 

John  Eliot.    Progress  of  the  Gospel  among  the  Indians,  1649. 

Anne  Bradstreet.    The  Tenth  Muse,  1650. 

Edward  Johnson.    Wonder- Working  Providence,  1654. 

John  Hammond.    Leah  and  Rachel,  Virginia  and  Maryland,  1656. 

463 


4^4  Reading  List 

John  Nortox.     The  Heart  of  New  England  Rent,  1659. 
Michael  Wiggles  worth.    The  Day  of  Doom,  1662. 
George  Alsop.     Character  of  Maryland,  1666. 
Nathaniel  Morton.     New  England's  Memorial,  1670. 
Increase  Mather.     Life  of  Richard  Mather,  1670. 
Samuel  Sewall.     Diary,  1673-1729. 
Cotton  Mather.     Magnalia,  finished,  1697. 
Charles  Woollet.     A  Two  Years'  Journal  in  New  York,  1701. 
Robert  Beverly.    History  of  Virginia,  1705. 
John  Williams.     The  Redeemed  Captive,  1707. 
Thomas  Church.     Entertaining  Passages,  1716. 
James  Blair.     Present  State  of  Virginia  and  the  College,  1727. 
William  Byrd.     History  of  the  Dividing  Line,  1729. 
Mather  Byles.     Poems,  1744. 
William  Stith.     History  of  Virginia,  1747. 
Benjamin  Franklin.     Opinions  and  Conjectures  concerning  Elec- 
trical Matter,  1750.    See  Works. 
Jonathan  Edwards.     Freedom  of  the  Will,  1754. 
William  Smith.    History  of  New  York,  1757. 
Thomas  Hutchinson,    History  of  Massachusetts,  1764. 
Samuel  Adams.     Vindication  of  the  Town  of  Boston,  1769. 
Thomas  Paine.    Common  Sense  and  Crisis,  1776.    Others  to  1807. 
Philip  Freneau.    The  British  Prison  Ship,  1781.     Others  to  1815. 
John  Trumbull.   The  Progress  of  Dullness,  1773  to  1782.    McFingal. 


NATIONAL  PERIOD. 

Timothy  Dwight.  Conquest  of  Canaan,  1785  to  1817.  Greenfield 
Hill.    Travels. 

Joel  Barlow.  The  Vision  of  Columbus,  1787  to  1807.  The  Con- 
spiracy of  Kings.     The  Columbiad. 

Alexander  Hamilton  and  others.  The  Federalist,  1787-88  to  1804. 
Letters.     Works. 

Henry  Clay.  Speech  on  the  Alien  and  Sedition  Laws,  1789  to 
1850.  Speech  on  Declaration  of  War  with  Great  Britain.  On 
Gradual  Emancipation. 

William  Dunlap.  Plays,  1789-98  to  1837.  History  of  the  Amer- 
ican Theatre. 

Brockden  Brown.    Alcuin,  1797  to  1801.    Wieland.    Ormond. 

John  Dickinson.    Political  Writings,  1801. 

John  Marshall.    Life  of  Washington,  1804. 


Reading  List  465 

John  Quinct  Adams.    Letters,  1804.    Lectures  on  Rhetoric  and 

Oratory. 
John  C.  Calhoun.     Speech  on  Frigate  Chesapeake  Outrage,  1807 

to  1849.    On  Mexican  War.     On  Eepeal  of  Missouri  Com- 
promise. 
Daniel  Webster.    Speech  on  Berlin  and  Milan  Decrees,  1813  to 

1852.     Plymouth  and  Bunket  Hill  Orations.     Reply  to  Hayne. 
James  Kirke  Paulding.    John  Bull  and  Brother  Jonathan,  1813 

to  1849.    The  Backwoodsman.     The  Dutchman's  Fireside. 
William  Cullbn  Bryant.    Thanatopsis,  1817  to   1873.    Poems. 

Orations  and  Addresses. 
Washington  Irving.    The  Sketch-Book,  1819  to  1866.    Columbus. 

Washington. 
James  Fenimore  Cooper.    The  Spy,  1821  to  1850.    Red  Rover. 

Deerslayer  Series. 
Fitz-Greene  Halleck.    Poems,  1819  to  1865.     Young  America. 

Fanny. 
Nathaniel  Parker  Willis.     Poetical  Sketches,  1827  to  1859. 

Out-doors  at  Idlewild.     Unseen  Spirits. 
Edgar  Allan   Poe.      Tamerlane,   1827  to  1848.      Tales  of  the 

Grotesque  and  Arabesque.     Poems. 
Amos  Bronson  Alcott.     Observations,  etc.,   1830  to  1887.    Con- 
cord Days.     Table-Talk. 
Robert  Montgomery  Bird.     The  Gladiator,  1830  to  1839.    The 

Hawks  of  Hawk  Hollow.     Nick  of  the  Woods. 
John  Grbenleaf  Whittier.    Legends  of  New  England,  1831  to 

1890.    Snow-Bound.     National  Lyrics. 
George  Henry  Calvert.     Illustrations  of  Phrenology,  1832  to 

1884.     The  Gentleman.     Poems. 
William  Gilmore  Simms.    Atalantis,  1832  to  1860.    Poems.    The 

Partisan.     The  Yemassee. 
John  Pendleton  Kennedy.    Swallow  Bam,  1832  to  1872.    Horse- 
shoe Robinson.     Rob  of  the  Bowl. 
Henry  Theodore  Tuckerman.   Italian  Sketch-Book,  1835  to  1871. 

Essays  Biographical  and  Critical. 
Ralph  Waldo  Emerson.    Nature,  1836  to  1882.    Essays.    Poems, 

Revised. 
Nathaniel  Hawthorne.    Twice-Told  Tales,  1837  to  1863.    Scarlet 

Letter.     House  of  Seven  Gables.     Note  Books. 
William  Hickling  Prescott.    Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  1837  to 

1858.    Conquest  of  Mexico. 

30 


4^6  Reading  List 

Wendell  Phillips.    On  the  Murder  of  Lovejoy,  1837  to  1884. 

The  War  for  the  Union.     Toussaint  L'Ouverture. 
William  Ware.     Zenobia,  1837  to  1852.     Julian. 
Henry  Wadsworth  Longfellow.    Hyperion  and  Voices  of  the 

Night,  1839  to  1882.  Evangeline.  Hiawatha.  Poems.  Outre-Mer. 
James  Kussell  Lowell.    A  Year's  Life,  1841  to  1890.    Biglow 

Papers.     Poems.     Essays  and  Addresses. 
Harriet  Beecher  Stowe.    Mayflower,  1843  to  1881.    Uncle  Tom's 

Cabin. 
Margaret  Fuller.    Summer  on  the  Lakes,  1844  to  1850.    Papers 

on  Literature  and  Art. 
Parke    Godwin.     Doctrines  of   Fourier,   1844   to    1901.     Vala. 

Political  Essays. 
James  Freeman  Clarke.    Doctrines  of  Christianity,  1844  to  1886. 

Ten  Great  Keligions. 
Charles  Sumner.     The  True  Grandeur  of  Nations,  1845  to  1874. 

The  Crime  Against  Kansas.     Orations  and  Addresses. 
Herman  Melville.    Typee,  1846  to  1876.    Omoo. 
Bayard    Taylor.     Views  Afoot,   1846  to  1878.     Poems  of  the 

Orient.     By- Ways  of  Europe. 
Oliver   Wendell    Holmes.     Poems,  1846  to  1890.      Breakfast 

Table  Series.     Elsie  Venner.     Poems. 
Donald  Grant  Mitchell.    Fresh  Gleanings,  1847  — .     Eeveries  of 

a  Bachelor.     Wet  Days  at  Edgewood. 
Edward  Everett  Hale.    The  Rosary,  1848  — .    The  Man  Without 

a  Country,  and  Other  Tales.     In  His  Name. 
Henry  Norman  Hudson.    Lectures  on  Shakespeare,  1848  to  1884. 

Shakespeare :  His  Life,  Art  and  Characters. 
Edwin    Percy  Whipple.      Essays    and   Reviews,   1848  to   1886. 

Literature  of  the  Age  of  Elizabeth. 
Richard  Henry  Stoddard.  Footprints,  1849  — .  Songs  of  Summer. 
Francis  Parkman.     California  and  the  Oregon  Trail,  1849  to  1892. 

The  Old  Regime  in  Canada.     Montcalm  and  Wolfe. 
Henry  David  Thoreau.    A  Week  on  the  Concord  and  Merrimac 

Rivers,  1849  to  1862.    Walden.     The  Maine  Woods. 
Thomas  Went  worth  Higqinson.    Birthday  in  Fairy-Land,  1850  — . 

Malbone.    Atlantic  Essays. 
George  William  Curtis.    Notes  of  a  Hawadji,  1851  to  1892.    The 

Potiphar  Papers.    Eulogy  on  Wendell  Phillips. 
Charles  Eliot  Norton.    Recent  Social  Theories,  1853  — .    Notes 

of  Travel  and  Study  in  Italy. 


Reading  List  467 

Louisa  Mat  Alcott.    Flower  Fables,  1864  to  1888.    Little  Women. 

An  Old-Fashioned  Girl. 
Thomas  Bailey  Aldrich.    The  Bells,   1855  to  1899.    Marjorie 

Daw,  and  Other  People.     An  Old  Town  by  the  Sea. 
JosiAH  Gilbert  Holland..     History  of  Western  Massachusetts, 

1855  to  1881.     Bitter-Sweet.     Plain  Talks. 
Walt  Whitman.    Leaves  of  Grass,  1855  to  1892.    Specimen  Days. 

Drum  Taps. 
Paul  Hamilton  Hatne.    Poems,   1855  to  1882.      Legends  and 

Lyrics.    Poems. 
George  Bancroft.     Historical  Miscellanies,  1855  to  1889.    History 

of  the  United  States.     Address  on  Lincoln. 
John  Lothrop  Motley.    Rise  of  the  Dutch  Republic,  1856  to  1874. 

History  of  the  United  Netherlands. 
Moncure  Daniel  Conway.    Tracts  for  To-day,  1858  — .    Demon- 

ology.     Thomas  Paine. 
Edmund  Clarence  Stedman.     Poems,  Lyric  and  Idyllic^  1860 — . 

Victorian  Poets.     Poets  of  America. 
Henry  Timrod.     Poems,  1860  to  1873,    Poems. 
William  Dean   Howells.    Life  of  Lincoln,   1860 — .    Venetian 

Life.     Rise  of  Silas  Lapham.     A  Traveller  from  Altruria. 
Theodore  Winthrop.    Cecil  Dreeme,  1861.    d.  1861.    John  Brent. 

The  Canoe  and  Saddle. 
OcTAvius  Brooks  Frothingham.    Stories,  etc.,  1863  to  1891.  Tran- 
scendentalism in  New  England.     The  Religion  of  Humanity. 
Edward  Rowland  Sill.    The  Hermitage,  1867  to  1887.     Oppor- 
tunity.   A  Morning  Thought. 
John  Burroughs.     Notes  on  Walt  Whitman,  1867 — .     Wake 

Robin.    Indoor  Studies. 
Bret    Harte.    Condensed  Novels,  1867  to  1901.    The  Luck  of 

Roaring  Camp.     Colonel  Starbottle's  Client. 
Sidney  Lanier.    Tiger  Lilies,  1867  to  1880.    Poems.    The  English 

Novel. 
Elizabeth  Stuart  Phelps  [Ward].    The  Gates  Ajar,  1868 — . 

Beyond  the  Gates.    The  Madonna  of  the  Tubs. 
John    Fiske.     Tobacco  and  Alcohol,   1868  to  1901.     American 

Political  Ideas.     The  Critical  Period  of  American  History. 
Samuel  Langhorne  Clemens.    Innocents  Abroad,  1869 — .    Tom 

Sawyer.     Huckleberry  Finn.     Pudd'nhead  Wilson. 
Francis  Richard  Stockton.    Ting^-ling,  1869  to  1901.    Rudder 

Grange.    The  Squirrel  Inn. 


4^8  Reading  List 

Helen   Hunt  Jackson.    Verses,  1870  to  1890.    A  Century  of 

Dishonor.    Ramona. 
Charles  Dudley  Warner.    My  Summer  in  a  Garden,  1870  to 

1897.     Backlog  Studies.     The  Golden  House. 
"Susan  Coolidgb."    The  New  Year's  Bargain,  1871.    A  Guernsey 

Lily.      In  the  High  Valley. 
"Joaquin  Miller."    Songs  of  the  Sierras,  1871  to  1887. 
John  Hay.    Pike  County  Ballads,  1871  — .    Castilian  Days.    Poems. 
Edward  Eggleston.    The  Hoosier  Schoolmaster,  1871  to  1902.    The 

Mystery  of  Metropolisville.      A  History  of  the  United  States 

and  Its  People. 
S.  "Weir  Mitchell.    Wear  and  Tear,  1871  — .     In  War  Time.    A 

Masque  and  Other  Poems. 
Francis    Richard    Stoddard.      Roundabout    Rambles,   1872 — . 

Songs  of  Summer.     Under  the  Evening  Lamp. 
Julian    Hawthorne.      Bressant,    1872 — .      Beatrix    Randolph. 

Nathaniel  Hawthorne  and  His  Wife. 
Hjalmar    Hjorth    Boyesen.     Gunar,   1874  to   1894.     Idyls  of 

Norway.     The  Golden  Calf. 
Henry  James,  Jr.    A  Passionate  Pilgrim,  1875 — .    French  Poets 

and  Novelists.     The  Princess  Casamissima. 
Richard  Watson  Gilder.    The  New  Day,  1872  — .    Lyrics.    The 

Great  Remembrance. 
Mary  Hart  well  Catherwood.    A  Woman  in  Armor,  1875 — . 

The  Romance  of  DoUard.    Old  Kaskaskia. 
Maurice  Thompson.    Hoosier  Mosaics,  1875  to  1900.    Songs  of 

Fair  Weather.    Alice  of  Old  Vincennes. 
Sarah  Orne  Jewett.    Deephaven,  1877 — .    A  Country  Doctor. 

The  King  of  Folly  Island. 
Henry  Cabot  Lodge.     Life  and  Letters  of  George  Cabot,  1877  — . 

English  Colonies  in  America.     Studies  in  History. 
George  Washington  Cable.     Old  Creole  Days,  1879 — .     The 

Grandissimes.     By  low  Hill. 
Joel  Chandler  Harris.     Uncle  Remus,  1880 — .     Nights  with 

Uncle  Remus.     On  the  Plantation. 
Brander  Matthews.    The  Theatres  of  Paris,   1880—.    French 

Dramatists  of  the  XIX.  Century.     Pen  and  Ink. 
Theodore  Roosevelt.    The  Naval  War  of  1812, 1882 — .    Essays 

on  Practical  Politics.    The  Winning  of  the  West. 
Francis  Marion  Crawford.    Mr.   Isaacs,   1882—.    Saracinesca. 

Katherine  Lauderdale. 


Reading  List  469 


A.  T.  Mahan.     The  Gulf  and  Inland  Waters,  1883—.    Interest  of 

America  in  Sea  Power.    The  South  African  War. 
James  Whitcomb  Riley.    Poems,  1883—.    The  Old  Swimmin'- 

Hole.    Neighborly  Poems. 
Mary  Noailles  Murfree.     In  the  Tennessee  Mountains,  1884 — . 

The  Prophet  of  the  Great  Smoky  Mountains.     His  Vanished 

Star. 
Justin  Winsor.     Narrative  and  Critical  History,  Editor,  1885  to 

1894.     Memorial  History  of  Boston.     Cartier  to  Frontenac. 
JosiAH   RoYCE.      The   Religious   Aspect  of  Philosophy,   1886 — . 

The  Feud  of  Oakfield  Creek.    The  Spirit  of  Modem  Philosophy. 
Mary  Eleanor  WiLKiNS.    The  Adventures  of  Ann,  1886 — .    Jane 

Field.     Giles  Corey,  Yeoman. 
James  Lane  Allen.     Flute  and  Violin,  1886  — .    The  Blue  Grass 

Region.     A  Kentucky  Cardinal. 
Eugene  Field.     Culture's  Garland,  1887  to  1895.    Profitable  Tales. 
Thomas  Nelson  Page.     In  Ole  Virginia,  1887 — .    On  Newfound 

River.     The  Old  South. 
Alice  French  ("  Octave  Thanet").    Knitters  in  the  Sun,  1887  — . 

Otto  the  Knight.     Stories  of  a  Western  Town. 
Robert   Grant.     The  Confessions  of  a  Frivolous  Girl,   1888 — . 

Face  to  Face.     The  Opinions  of  a  Philosopher. 
Hamlin  Garland.    Main  Travelled  Roads,  1891  — .    Prairie  Songs. 

Crumbling  Idols. 
Henry   Van   Dyke.    Reality  of  Religion,  1884 — .     Fisherman's 

Luck.     The  Builders  and  Other  Poems, 
Owen  Wister.     The  Dragon  of  Wantage,  1892  — .    Red  Men  and 

White.     Lin  McLean.     The  Virginians. 
Bliss  Carman.     Low  Tide  in  Grand  Pre,   1893 — .    The  Green 

Book  of  the  Bards.     The  Vengeance  of  Noel  Brassard. 
Paul  Vandyke.     The  Age  of  the  Renasence,  1897  — . 
Booth  Tarkington.     The  Gentleman  from  Indiana,  1899 — .   Mon- 
sieur Beaucaire.     The  Two  Vanrevels. 

For  other  writers  of  recent  fiction  the  reader  is  referred  to 
library  lists,  and  for  the  latest,  to  weekly  reviews  of  books  and 
the  daily  papers. 


Index 


Aboriginal  impulses,  338 

Aboriginal  life,  342 

Adams,  Samuel,  121,  134,  145 

Adams,  John,  on  Otis,  135 

Adams,  John  Quincy,  175 

Addison,  181, 186 

Advance  in  colonial  literature,  173 

After-dinner  verse,  329 

Allerton,  Bob,  18 

Almanacs  in  literature,  80,  86 

"Alnwick  Castle,"  201 

''Alhambra,  The,"  192 

Allusion,  321,  403 

Alcott,  Louisa  May,  415 

"  Alice  of  Old  Vincennes,"  440 

Alsop,  George,  17 

"Atlantic  Monthly,"  320,  327,  333, 

834 
American  and  English  literature,  445 
'*  American  and  Foreign  Note  Books," 

310 
"  American  Magazine,"  226 
"  American       Tears       for       Greek 

Churches,"  71 
American  writers  and  England,  150; 

writings  abroad,  117 
Americans,  foreign  views  of,  213 
Americans  abroad,  428 
Americanism,  156, 183,  354 
Americanisms,  203 
Anglomania  and  Anglophobia,  439 
"  Annals  of  America,"  327 
"Appeal  to  the  World,"  120 
Argall,  Samuel,  17 
"  Arrow  against  dancing,"  58 
"  Arthur  Mervyn,"  170 
"Atlantis,"  245 
«  Audrey,"  414 
«  Aurelian,"  427 
Authors,  forgotten,  262,  264 
"Autobiography,"  Franklin's,  99 
"  Autocrat  of  the  Breakfast  Table," 

329,  332,  333 


Bacon,  Nathaniel,  18 

Bagnall,  Anthony,  17 

"  Ballads  and  Other  Poems,"  281 

Ballads  of  the  Revolution,  125,  152 

Baltimore,  Lord,  79 

Bancroft,  George,  363 

Barlow,  Joel,  155, 158 

Barnard,  John,  89 

"  Bay  Psalm  Book,"  50 

Beginning  of  nineteenth  century,  175 

"Ben  Hur,"  426 

"  Be  Merry  and  Be  Wise,"  113 

"Berber,  The,"  250 

Berkeley,  Governor,  104 

Bermudas,  17 

Beverly,  Robert,  78 

"  Beverly's  History  of  Virginia,"  78 

"  Biglow  Papers,""  312,  314 

Billington,  34 

Biography,  snap-shot,  441 

Bird,  Robert  M.,  249 

Blackwood,  publisher,  230 

Blackstone,  109 

Blair,  James,  104 

"Bloudy  Tenent,"  Williams',  44 

"  Bloudy  Teneut  Washed,"  45,  46 

Bolingbroke,  82 

Book  reviewing,  444 

Booksellers*  inventories,  140 

Border  life,  247 

"  Boston  Gazette,"  85 

"  Boston  News  Letter,"  85 

Bowdoin  College,  301 

Bradford,  William,   21;   "History," 

21;  writings,  28 
"BracebridgeHall,"  190 
Brackenridge,  Hugh,  168 
Bradstreet,  Anne,  51,  70 
"  Breakfast  Table  Series,"  333,  335 
"  British  Empire  in  America,"  78 
British  liberty  in  America,  7 
Brook  Farm,  306,  344 
Brown,  Brockdeo,  167,  239 


471 


472 


Index 


Browne,    Charles    Farrar    (Artemus 

Ward),  459 
Bryant,  William  Cullen,  203, 204,  261, 

277,  281,  317,  436;  as  an  editor,  207; 

limitations,  209 ;  poetry,  206 
"  Burwell  Papers,"  104 
♦'Busybody,"  96 
Byles,  Mather,  114,  451 
Byron,  190 
"  By- Way 8  of  Europe,"  236 

Gable,  George,  W.,  411 

Calef,  Robert,  71 

Calhoun,  John  C,  392 

Calvinism,  336 

"  Camadeva,"  237 

Cambridge  writers,  406,  436 

"  Canoe  and  Saddle,"  408 

Cape  Cod,  20 

Caricature,  428 

Catherwood,  Mary  H.,  426 

*' Cecil  Dreeme,"  407 

"  Century  of  Dishonor,"  410 

"Chance  Acquaintance,"  432 

Channing,  William  E.,  261,  288 

"Chants  Democratic,"  351 

Charles  II.,  literature  of  his  reign,  7 

"  Charlotte  Temple,"  165 

Chaucer,  234 

Choate,  Rufus,  402 

"Christopher  North,"  230 

**  Chronicles  of  Pilgrim  Fathers,"  28 

**  Churches'  Quarrel  Exposed,"  83 

Churchill,  Winston,  439 

"Circuit  Rider,"  408 

"Circular  to  Colonial  Legislatures," 

120 
"  Clara  Howard,"  170 
Class  poems,  330 
Clay,  Henry,  271,  389 
Colonial     antiquities,     3;    ideas,    5; 

literature,  value  of,  5  ;  renaissance, 

3;  seclusion,  116;  separation,  148; 

writings,  5,  21 
"Columbia,"  157 
"  Columbiad,"  the,  159, 160 
Columbus,  character  of,  196 
Commemoration  Ode,  319 
"  Common  Sense,"  129 
Compensation  for  writers,"  274 
"Condensed  Novels,"  409 
"  Conduct  of  Life,"  295 
Confederation  and  union,  147 


Congregational  order,  85 

"  Conquest  of  Canaan,"  156 

"  Conquest  of  Granada,"  192 

"  Conquest  of  Mexico,"  372 

"  Conquest  of  Peru,"  372 

"  Conspiracy  of  Pontiac,"  381 

Constitution  of  U.  S.,  147 

Constitution  interpreted  by  "Feder- 
alist" writers,"  149 

Constitution  and  union,  398 

"  Conspiracy  of  Kings,"  159 

Contemporary  appreciation,  value  of, 
287 

Cook,  Ebenezer,  77 

Cooke,  John  Esten,  414 

Cooke,  Rose  Terry,  415 

Cooper,  James  Fenimore,  184,  211, 
239,  240,  250,  261,  318,  427,  436 

Cooper  and  Scott,  214,  216 

Cooper's  controversies,  217;  criticism 
of  his  countrymen,  218 

Correspondence  as  literature,  177 

"Corsair,"  227 

Cotton,  John,  45 

"  Count  Frontenac,"  381 

Court  literature,  6 

"  Courtship  of  Miles  Standish,"  286 

"  Craddock,  Charles  Egbert,"  412 

Crawford,  Marion,  427 

Creole  life,  411 

"Crisis,"  130 

Critical  opinion,  375 

Critical  period,  the,  147 

Criticism,  261,  322,  372,  443 

"  Croakers,  The,"  200 

Cromwell,  17,  20 

"  Culprit  Fay,"  199 

Curtis,  George  William,  404 

Dale,  Thomas,  17 

"  Damsel  of  Darien,"  246 

Dana,  R.  H.,  318 

Dartmouth  College,  357,  396,  398 

"David  Harum,"  440 

"Day  of  Doom,  The,  53 

"Day's  Work,"  440 

Declaration  of  Independence,  127, 129, 

144,  146 
"  Deerslayer,"  219 
"  Despot  of  Broomsedge  Cove,"  413 
Detective  story,  the,  260 
Dialect  stories,  412 ;  verse,  312 ;  humor, 

454 


Index 


473 


Diarizing,  141 

Dickiuson,  John,  121 

Dime  novels,  249 

*' Dissuasion  from  Tavern  Hunting," 

etc.,  82 
"Diverting  History  of  John  Bull  and 

Brother  Jonathan,"  182 
"  Donna  Florida,"  246 
"  Down  the  Ravine,"  413 
Drake,  Joseph  Rodman,  199 
Drama,  rise  of,   162;  in  South  and 

North,  162 
"Drifting  Down  Lost  Creek,"  413 
Dualism,  292 
Duality,  Whitman's,  355 
Dummer,  Jeremiah,  81 
"  Dutch    and    Quaker    Colonies    in 

America,"  441 
"  Dutch  Republic,"  374 
*'  Dutchman's  Fireside,"  182 
Dwight,  Timothy,  155,  156, 159 


"  EbEN  HOLDEN,"  440 

Ecclesiastical  ambitions,  84 

"  Edgar  Huntley,"  170 

Editorial,  404 

Editors,  267 

Edwards,  Jonathan,  91 

Eggleston,  Edward,  408 

"  Egyptian  Fortune  Teller,"  ll3 

Elders,  group  of  New  England,  46 

"  Eldorado,"  409 

Elegiac  verse,  319 

Eliot,  John,  34,  51 

"  Elsie  Venner,"  336 

Emerson,  Ralph  Waldo,  288,  317,  336, 
338 

Emerson's  independence,  288;  lec- 
tures, 289 ;  later  essays,  291 ;  style, 
292 

"Endof  the  World,"  408 

Endicott,  42 

English  books  in  America,  438 

England,  colonists'  affection  for,  6 

English  literature,  contemporary,  140 

"  English  Traits,"  295 

"  English  writers  on  America,"  191 

"Entertaining  Passages  of  Philip's 
War,"  85 

Epics  and  dramas,  152 

Epitaphs,  51 


"Essay  to  Silence   Outcry   against 

Singing,"  89 
Essays,  80,  322 
"Essays  to  Do  Good,"  82 
Eulogy,  401 

Eulogy  on  R.  Partridge,  173 
Eulogies,  Puritan,  49,  69 
"  Evangeline,"  284 
Evans,  John,  17 
Everett,  Edward,  399 
"  Excursions,"  346 

"Fable  for  Critics,"  317 

Fame,  the  value  of  contemporary,  262 

"Famous  Persons  and  Places,"  228 

"Fanshawe,"  301 

Farmer,  the  New  England,  274 

"Farmer's  Letters,"  Dickinson's  ex- 
tracts from,  121, 122, 128 

"  Federalist,"  145, 149 

"Female  Quixotism,"  167 

"  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,"  369,  370 

Ferment  and  reaction,  288 

Fiction,   early,   175;    and   fact,  258; 

foreign  subjects  in,  427;   historic, 

.241,  425,  434;  local,  406;  phases  of, 

426;  present  production  of,  437;  of 

reform,  434;  sensational,  247 

Fiske,  John,  441 

"  Flood  of  Years,  The,"  209 

Folger,  Peter,  69 

"  Force's  Tracts,"  19 

Ford,  Paul  Leicester,  439 

Foreign  influences,  281;  inspirations, 
279 

Forensic  eloquence,  397 

"  Fortune,  The,"  23 

France,  381;  in  America,  385;  books 
published  in,  438 

Franklin,  Benjamin,  86,  94,  128,  140, 
280,  367,  441;  place  in  literature, 
102;  service  to  American  letters,  98; 
wit  and  wisdom,  97,451;  "Works," 
361 

Franklin,  James,  86 

Freedom,  literature  of,  313 ;  poems  of, 
271 

French,  the,  381 ;  and  English  in  fiction, 
428 ;  French  and  Indian  War,  382 

Freneau, Philip,  125;  his  verse,  136-138 

Frontier  life,  248 

Fuller,  Margaret,  263 


29 


474 


Index 


Gardiner,  Christopher,  23 

*'  General  Magazine  and    Historical 

Chronicle,"  etc.,  100 
Ginnat,  Post,  18 
"  Glory  of  the  Lord  Departing,"  etc., 

71 
Godfrey,  Thomas,  163 
Goethe,  279,  289 
Goldsmith,  186 
"  Great  Britain  and  Her  Colonies," 

117 
"  Guardian  Angel,"  336 
•'  Guy  Rivers,"  247 

Hakluyt's  "  Voyages,"  14 
Hale,  E.  E.,  441 

Halleck,  Fitz-Greene,  199,  263,  318 
Hamilton,  Alexander,  145,  148 
Hamor,  Ralph,  17 
Harris,  Joel  Chandler,  412 
Harte,  Francis  Bret,  408 
Hawthorne,    Nathaniel,    32,    56,  216, 

261,  300 
Harvard  College,  82,  232,  312,  319, 

327,  363,  373,  380 
Hebraic  spirit  in  New  England  laws 

and  literature,  139, 140,  266 
Henry,  Patrick,  132,  145 
Heroism  in  literature,  372,  382,  404 
Higginson,  John,  80 
Higglnson,  T.  W.,  44 
Hildreth,  Richard,  368 
Historians,    American,    360;     philo- 
sophical, 364;  their  variations,  240 
Historical  fiction,  241,  250;  methods, 

362 ;  romance,  247 ;  topics,  367, 377, 

376 
History,  440 
"History  of  American  Privateers," 

440 
"  History  of  Pequot  War,"  69 
«  History  of  the  United  Netherlands," 

376 
"History   of    the    United    States," 

Bancroft's,  364 
"  History  of  Virginia,"  Smith's,  13, 15 
"  History  of  Virginia,"  Stith's,  106 
*«  His  Vanished  Star,"  413 
Holmes,  Oliver  Wendell,   318,  327, 

429 
"Home  Journal,"  227 
Hooker,  Thomas,  46,  64 


"  Hoosier  Schoolmaster,"  408 
Hopkins,  Stephen,  119 
Horner,  127,  161 
"Horseshoe  Robinson,"  240 
"House  of  Seven  Gables,"  307 
"How  Witches  May  be  Convicted," 

71 
Howard,  Martin,  119 
Howe,  Julia  Ward,  441 
Howells,  William  D.,  432 
Hubbard,  William,  69 
"Hugh  Wynne,"  439 
Humanism  in  literature,  157,  284,  285 
Humor,    319,    330;    American,   446; 

English,  447 
Humphrey,  Guy,  137 
"Hurry graphs,"  228 
Hutchinson,  Anne,  46,  109 
Hutchinson,  Thomas,  108, 110, 111,360 
"  Hyperion,"  279 

Idealism,  292 

Idvllic  verse,  267 

"  Iliad,"  127,  204 

Imitation,  217 

"  Imitation  of  Christ,"  94 

Immortality  in  literature,  263 

"Improvement  of  Some  Vacant 
Hours,"  89 

Indian,  the,  213,  300,  380,  408, 410 ;  in 
literature,  268,  285 ;  traditions,  340 

Individualism  and  separatism,  148 

Independence,  131 

Independency,  ecclesiastical,  threat- 
ened, 83 

"  Independent  Gazetteer  "  and  "  Fed- 
eralist "  essays,  146 

Inspiration,  294 

« In  the  Clouds,"  413 

Intolerance,  267 

Introspection  in  fiction,  215 

Intuition,  293 

Irving,  Washington,  181,  185,  240, 
268,  278,  301,  318,  376,  436;  ante- 
cedents, 185;  early  work,  187;  good 
offices,  international,  191;  life  and 
letters  abroad,  190;  "Life  of 
Washington,"  193;  success  and 
position,  193 ;  voluminous  writings, 
192 

Isabella,  Queen,  371 

"  Italian  Journeys,"  432 


Index 


475 


Jacksok,  Helen  Hunt,  410 
James,  Henry,  Jr.,  428 
Jamestown  settlement,  10 
"Jane  Talbot,"  170 
"  Janice  Meredith,"  439 
Jay,  John, 145 
Jefferson,  Thomas,  145, 174 
"  Jesuits  in  North  America,"  381 
Jewett,  Sarah  Orne,  415 
"John  Brent,"  408 
"John  Bull,"  sketch  of,  195 
"  John  Bull  in  America,"  182 
"John  Godfrey's  Fortunes,"  234 
Johnson,  Edward,  39;  his  "  Wonder- 
Working  Providence,"  40 
Johnson,  Samuel,  119 
Johnson,  Sir  William,  184 
Johnston,  Mary,  414 
Jones,  William  A.,  263 
"Journey  to  Central  Africa,"  233 
"Julian,"  427 

"  Kaloolah,*'  250 
Keith,  George,  73,  75 
Kennedy,  John  P.,  239, 251,  257 
Knickerbocker  Group,  198,  204,  229, 

232 
"Knickerbocker's    History  of    New 

York,"  186,  204 
Knight,  Sarah  Kemble,  73 

"Lady  of  Aroostook,"  432 

"Lady  of  Fort  St.  John,"  426 

"  Lands  of  the  Saracen,"  233 

Language,  290 

"La  Salle,"  381 

"Last  of  the  Mohicans,"  216 

Lawson,  John,  76 

"  Leatherstocking,"  242 

"  Leatherstocking  "  Series,  213,  214 

"Lectures on  Shorter  Catechism,"  89 

Lee,  Richard  Henry,  134 

**  Legacy  for  Children,"  85 

"Legend  of  Sleepy  Hollow,"  189 

"  Letters  "  by  Willis,  228 

"Letters  "  from  abroad,  228 

"  Letters  from  Under  a  Bridge,"  227 

Letter  writers,  famous,  178 

Letter  writing  and  letter  writers,  177 

Liberal  movements,  266 

Libraries,  268 


"Library  of  American  Biography," 
361 

"  Life  of  Columbus,"  194 

"Life  and  death  of  John  of  Bame- 
veld,"  376 

"  Life  in  the  Open  Air,"  408 

Lincoln's  aphorism,  398 

Literary  metropolis,  324 

Literary  revolt  in  New  England,  265 

Literati  of  N.  Y.,  261,  263 

Literature,  classical,  402 

Literature,  present  production  of,  437 

Local  color  in  fiction,  247,  306 

Local  fiction,  belt  line  of,  415;  ex- 
amples of,  415-425 

Locke,  David  Ross  (Petroleum  V, 
Nasby),  455 

Lodge,  Henry  Cabot,  440 

"  Logic  Primer  for  Indians,"  69 

Longfellow,  Henry  Wadsworth,  261, 
262,  318 

Longfellow's  sources  of  poetry,  277; 
education  and  travel,  278;  New 
and  Old  World  poems,  282 ;  "  Evan- 
geline," 284;  "Hiawatha,"  285; 
"Courtship  of  Miles  Standish," 
286 

Long  hair  an  offence,  109 

Lowell,J.R.,262,283,  312, 429,441,449 

Loyalists,  111 

Loyalist  writers,  120 

"Luctuosum,  or  Moamfal  Decade," 
85 

Lyceum  lecture,  289 

Lyford,  John,  23 

"Lyrical  Poems,"  245 

Madison,  James,  144 

Magazines,  early,  301 

Magazines,  444 

"Magnalia,"  Mather's,  62 

Mahew,  Jonathan,  124 

Mahew,  Matthew,  69 

Mandeville,  Sir  John,  14 

"Marble  Faun,"  308 

Maiyland,  19 

"  Martin  Faber,"  245 

"Masque  of  the  Gods,"  234 

Massachusetts  Bay,  Pilgrims'  arrival 

in,  25 
Mass.  Hist.  Soc  Collections,  19 
"Massachusetts  Spy,"  120 


476 


Index 


Mather  family,  80 

Mather,  Cotton,  64,71,  82,  88,  349, 450 

Mather,  Increase,  57 

Marryatt  and  "Willis,  227 

May,  Henry,  17 

"Mayflower,"  23 

Mayo,  William  S.,  250 

"McFingal,"  152 

Meeting-house,  153 

"Mellichampe,"247 

Merrimac  in  verse,  270 

Merry  Mount,  29,  32 

"  Merry  Mount,  a  Romance,"  373 

Methods  in  fiction,  431 

Methods  of  literary  work,  369,  375, 

382,  393 
Microscopic  delineation,  428 
Miller,  John,  41 

Misrepresentation  of  America,  428 
"Miscellanies,"  295 
Mitchell,  Weir  S.,  439 
"Modern  Chivalry,"  168 
"Modern  Instance,"  432     * 
"  Montcalm  and  Wolfe,"  381 
Moore,  Clement  C,  202 
Moore,  Thomas,  190 
"More    Wonders    of    the    Invisible 

World,"  71 
Morris,  George  P.,  263 
**  Morton's  Hope,"  373 
Morton,  Thomas,  29,  42 
"Mortal  Antipathy,"  336 
"Mosses  from  an  Old  Manse,"  306 
"Mother  Goose's  Melodic?,"  85 
Motley,  John  Lothrop,  32, 336, 373, 380 
"  Mountaineer  of  the  Atlas,"  250 
"  Mournful  Decade,"  57 
Munchausen,  Baron,  14 
Murfree,  Mary  Noailles,  412 
Murray,  the  publisher,  190 
"  Mystery  of  Metropolis ville,"  408 
Mystical  thought,  297 
Mysticism,  305,  308 

Names,  Puritan,  3 

Narrowing  influences  in  colonial  life,  7 

Naturalism,  431 

"  Nature,"  290,  306 

"Nature  and  Effects  of  the  Stage," 

113 
Nature  in  literature,  339,  413;  poetry 

of.  299 


Negro,  in  literature,  412;  question  in 

1829,  244 
Netherlands,  374 
New  England,  322;  verse,  206;  writers 

of  fiction,  414 
"New  England  Magazine,"  332 
"New  England   Witches,"   Increase 

Mather's,  57 
"  New  English  Canaan,"  30 
"Newes  from  Virginia,"  14 
"  New  Heaven  upon  the  New  Earth  " 

57 
Newspapers,  80,  267,  445 ;  early,  86 
"New  York  Evening  Post,"  198,  200, 

207 
New  York  in  literature,  239,  265 
"  New  York  Mirror,"  226 
"New  York  Tribune,"  232,  233 
"Nick  of  the  Woods,"  249 
"  Night  Thoughts,"  224 
Nineteenth  century,  development  of 

literature  in,  436 ;  close  of,  436 
"Non-resistance  to  Higher  Powers," 

117 
"  North  American  Review,"  205,  320, 

361,  373,  399 
North  Carolina,  76 
"  Northern  Travel,"  233 
Novel,  the  American,  23 ;  of  purpose, 

433;  of  society,  431;  of  the  West, 

219 
Novelists,  Anglo-American,  427;  fav- 
orite, 435 
Novelist's  license,  215 
Noyes,  Nicholas,  80 
"  Nubia,"  238 

Occasional  verse,  328 

"  Old  Men's  Tears,"  69 

Oldmixon,  John,  78 

"  Old  Regime  in  Canada,"  381 

Old  world  in  the  new,  365 

Optimism,  298 

"Ormond,"  170 

Oratorical  art,  400 

Orators,  Northern,  134, 396 ;  Southern, 
134,  386 

Oratory,  127;  as  an  educator,  387; 
as  literature,  386;  congressional, 
388;  deliberative,  381 ;  the  literature 
of,  132;  occasional,  399;  in  poetry, 
157 


Index 


477 


«  Oregon  Trail,"  381 

Otis,  James,  118,  134 

"  Out  of  the  Question,"  432 

"  Outdoors  at  Idlewild,"  228 

Outer-world  literature,  265 

"  Outre-Mer,"  279 

"  Overland  Monthly,"  409 

•♦  Our  Old  Home,"  310 

Paine,  Thomas,  128 

Parker,  Gilbert,  426 

Parker,  William,  17 

Parkman,  Francis,  32,  284,  380,  426 

«  Partisan,"  246 

Partisanship,  242 

"  Pathfinder,"  219 

Pathos,  330 

Patriotic  aspiration  in  literature,  155 

Patriotism  in  literature,  272 

Patriotic  songs,  358 

Paulding,  James  K.,  182,  361 

"Pencillings  by  the  Way,"  226 

Penn,  William,  441 

"  People  I  have  Met,"  228 

Percy,  George,  18 

Percy  of  Northumberland,  201 

"  Peril  of  the  Times,  The,"  71 

Periodical  literature,  227,  444 

Periods,  length  of  colonial  and 
national,  9 

Personal  and  neighborhood  element  in 
early  diaries,  8 

«*  Peter  Parley,"  226 

Peters,  Hugh,  41 

"  Petticoats,  Hoop,  Arraigned,"  etc.,  89 

♦'  Petticoat,  Origin  of  the  Whale- 
bone," 85 

Phantom  Ship,  37 

"  Phantom  of  the  Footbridge,"  413 

Phelps,  Elizabeth  Stuart,  415 

Philadelphia  in  literature,  239,  265; 
Library,  101 

"  Philadelphia  Mercury,"  85,  95 

Phillips,  Wendell,  403 

Philosophy  of  History,  365 

Phonetic  humor,  454 

Photographic  portraiture,  430 

Phipps,  Sir  William,  67 

Pickhouse,  Dru,  18 

Picturesque  history,  370,  377 

Pilgrims,  landing  of,  26 

"Pioneers,"  212 


"  Pioneers  of  France,"  381 

"Pilot,"  214 

"Pirate,"  214 

"Pirates,  N.  Merrit's  Escape  from 
the,"  89 

Playwrights,  early,  164 

Plymouth  Diarists,  20 

Pocahontas,  17 

Poe,  Edgar  Allan,  251,  318;  early 
years,  251;  first  ventures,  252; 
inheritances,  256;  hterary  career, 
256;  prose  tales,  257;  theory  of 
verse,  257 ;  as  a  critic,  261 

Poe's  poems,  252 

Poems  of  freedom,  283 

"Poems  of  the  Orient,"  233 

Poetry,  colonial,  8,41;  domestic,  277; 
in  New  England,  29;  of  the  nine- 
teenth century,  441 

Polemics,  Puritan,  83 

Political  controversy,  128,  145;  dis- 
cussion, 117,  124,  144;  education, 
387,  400;  essayists,  125;  papers, 
127;  prophets,  388,  394;  writers, 
150;  writers  of  the  critical  period, 
143  ;  writings,  8  ;  in  pulpits,  124 

Pope,  114 

"  Portfolio,  The,"  176 

Portraiture,  historical,  377 

Powell,  Nathaniel,  17 

Powhatan,  17 

Preaching  on  trial,  83 

"  Precaution,"  212 

Press,  freedom  of,  112 

Prescott,  William  Hickling,  369,  380, 
381 

"  Preternatural  Occurrences."  68 

Primitive  inclinations,  338 ;  life,  410; 
type,  355 

"Prince  Deukalion,"  234 

Prince,  Thomas,  105 

"  Prisoners  of  Hope,"  414 

"Professor  and  Poet  at  the  Break- 
fast Table,"  335 

Prolific  writers,  234,  246,  427 

"Prophet,"  234 

"  Prophet  of  the  Great  Smoky  Moun- 
tains," 413 

Prose  in  verse,  351 

Prose  writings,  295 

"  Providence  Gazette,"  120 

Psalmistry,  Bay,  30 


478 


Index 


Psalmody,  50;  Puritan,  85 

"  Ptolemy,  King  of  the  Gypsies,"  113 

'*  Public  Occurrences,"  86 

Punning,  321 

Purchas'  " Pilgrims  "  and  "Pilgrim- 
age," 14 

"Puritan    as    a    Colonist    and    Re- 
former," 440 

Puritan  exclusion,  438:  exclusion  of 
foreign  literature,  139 ;  gloom,  208 
imagination,  208;  immigration,  33 
laws,  139;  life,  300;  reading,  140 
traditions,  305 

"  Puritan  Republic,"  440 

Puritans  in  Leyden,  377 

Purpose  in  fiction,  310 

"  Quakers  in  the  Revolution,"  44 
Queen  Anne's  reign,  writers  of,  88, 

96,  99 
Quincy,  Josiah,  121 
"  Quodlibet,"  243 

"  Ramona,"  410 

Randolph,  John,  388 

Ransack,  Abram,  18 

Readers,  colonists  as,  148 

Realism,  429 

Recognition  delaj'ed,  344,  407 

"  Red  Book,"  243 

"Red  Rover,"  214 

"  Redeemed  Captive,  The,"  73 

"  Reign  of  Law,"  440 

«  Reign  of  Philip  II.,"  372 

Remonstrant  writers,  116 

Repetition,  334 

Reporter,  a,  233 

Republic  of  letters,  445 

"  Representative  Men,"  295 

"Reminiscences,"  441 

Restlessness  in  New  England,  288 

Review  of  colonial  period,  139 

Revolt,  theological  and  literary,  266 

Revolution,  439 

Revolution,    the,    241;    in   literature, 

414;  poetry,  135;  writers,  130;  verse, 

160 
Revolutionary,  ideas,  116 
Rhode  Island,  43 
Rhvme,  349 

"Rhymes  of  Travel,"  409 
"  Richard  Carvel,"  440 
"Rights  of  Man,"  176 


"  Rise  of  the  Dutch  Republic,"  374 

"  Rise  of  Silas  Lapham,"  432 

"Rise,  Travels,  and  Triumph  of 
Death,"  114 

"  Rob  of  the  Bowl,"  242 

"Romance  of  Dollard,"  426 

"  Romance  Dust,"  etc.,  250 

"  Romances,  Lyrics,  and  Songs,"  232 

Round  Hill  School,  364 

Rowson,  Susanna,  165 

Royalty — influence  upon  colonial  writ- 
ing, 6 

"  Runaway  Ballads,"  328 

Sabbath,  the,  112 

St.  James,  court  of,  365 

Sales  of  books,  large,  440 

"  Salmagundi,"  179 

Sandys,  George,  17 

"  Saracinesca,"  427 

"  Scarlet  Letter,"  306 

"  Scott,  Walter,  189,  212 

Sea,  the,  325 

Secretary  of  the  Navy,"  365 

"  Sentiments  of  a  British  American,'* 

119 
Sewall,  Samuel,  57 
Sewall's  diary,  58 
Shakespeare,  14, 103,  203 
Shepherd,  Thomas,  41 
Shillaber,  Benjamin  Penhallow  (Mrs, 

Partington),  458 
Short  story,  the,  193,  301 
Simms,  William  Gilmore,  239,  245 
"Simple  Cobler  of  Agawam,"  47,  49, 

173 
"  Sketch  Book,"  188,  278 
"  Sketch  of  Old  England,"  182 
Small-pox  in  Boston,  112 
Smith,  John,  10 ;  as  a  writer,  12 
Smith's  favorite  authors,  14 
Smith,  Sydney,  191 
Smith,  William,  107 
"Snow  Image,"  303,  307 
Sociologic  stories,  432 
"  Sot  Weed  Factor,  The,"  77 
"  Southern  Literarj'  Messenger,"  257 
"Southern' Passages  and  Pictures," 

246 
"  Sovereignty  of  Ethics,"  295 
Spain,  376;   in  American  literature, 

373 
Sparks,  Jared,  360 


Index 


479 


*«  Spectator,"  81,  95, 181 

"  Spy,  The,"  212 

Standish,  Miles,  26,  30 

Steele,  82 

Stimulant,  Emerson  as  a,  295 

Stith,  William,  106 

*'  Story  of  Keedon  Bluffs,"  413 

"  Story  of  Kennet,  The  "  234 

Strachey,  Master,  17 

**  Stranger  People's  Country,"  413 

Struggle  for  a  Continent,  382 

Studley,  Thomas,  17 

Study  of  modern  languages,  323 

Style,  Hawthorne's,  310;    Webster's, 

397 ;  Sumner's,  402 
Subject,  Prescott's  choice  of,  380 
Sumner,  Charles,  402 
"Swallow  Barn,"  240,  243 
Swift,  82 

Sj'mbolism,  Emerson's,  299 
Sympathy  with  humanity,  Whitman's, 

352,  353 
System  and  methods  in  work,  Sparks', 

363 

Table-talk,  334,  337 

"  Tales  of  a  Traveller,"  192 

"Tamerlane,"  252 

"Tangle wood  Tales,"  305 

Tankard,  William,  17 

Tavlor,   Bayard,  231,  251,  261,  262, 

4'09 
"Tempest,"  17 
Tenny,  Tabitha,  167 
"  Tenth  Muse,"  51 
Thacher,  Oxenbridge,  119 
"Thanatopsis,"  205 
Theological  literature,  265 
Thoreau,  Henry  David,  338 
Thoreau's  economics,  342  • 
Titles,  significant  and  suggestive,  258, 

411 
Todkill,  Annas,  17 
«  To  Have  and  to  Hold,"  414,  440 
"Tom  Thumb,"  113 
Tories,  82, 120,  242 
Torquemada,  46 
"  Tour  through  Silesia,"  176 
Town-meeting,  153 
Towtales,  Larence,  18 
Tragedy  and  comedy  in  colonial  life, 

163 


Transcendentalism,  293,  344 

Transition  from  colony  to  state,  130 

Transitions,  slow,  144 

Travel,  books  of,  233 

"Travels  in  North  America,"  73 

"Trials  and  Profits  of  New  Eng- 
land, 17 

"  True  Relation,"  12,  16 

Trumbull,  John,  152 

"Trumpet  Sounding  in  the  Wilder- 
ness," 69 

"  Tuscan  Cities,"  432 

"  Twice-Told  Tales,"  301 

"  Two  Years'  Journal  in  New  York," 
73 

Tyler,  Royall,  163 

"Uncle  Tom's  Cabin,"  433 
Unconventionality,  349 
Union  of  states,  148 
Unitarian  movement,  266 
"United  States  and  England,"  182 
Universities,  English,  6 
Unorthodoxy,  289 

Variety  in  unity,  425 

"  Vassall  Morton,"  380 

"Venetian  Life,"  432 

Verplanck,  Gulian  C,  203 

Virginia,  79,  240;  and  Massachusetts 

colonists  contrasted,  20 
"Virginia,  Present  State  of,"  104 
"  Virginia  Gazette,"  95 
"Vision  of  Columbus,"  158 
"Voices  of  the  Night,"  281 

Wadsworth,  President,  72 

"  Walden,"  340,  341 

Wallace,  Lew,  426 

War  and  literature,  127,  406;  of  1812, 

193;  poems,  318;  of  words,  128 
Ward  Nathaniel,  47 
Ware,  William,  427 
Warfare,  modern,  in  literature,  223 
Washington,  George,  134,  360 
Washington's  biographers,  361 
Wave  law  in  poetry,  442 
Webster,  Daniel,  396 
"Week  on  the  Concord  and  Merri- 

mac  Rivers,"  339 
Western  fiction,  408 
"  When  Knighthood  was  in  Flower,*' 

440 


4^0 


Index 


413 


"  Where  the  Battle  was  Fought,' 

Whipple,  Edwin,  263 

Whitaker,  Alexander,  18 

White,  Father  Andrew,  17 

White  Poplar  literature,  230 

Whiting,  Samuel,  70 

Whitman,  Walt,  348 

Whittier,  John  G.,  265,  277,  283,  318; 

antecedents,  266;  early  efforts,  268; 

legendary    poems,  270;    poems    of 

freedom,  271 ;  war-songs,  272 ;  poems 

of  the  country  side,  273 
"Wieland,"  170 
Wigglesworth,  Michael,  53,   57;  his 

"  Day  of  Doom,"  53,  57 
Wilkins,  Mary  E.,  415 
"  Will,  Edwards  on  the,"  92 
Williams,  John,  73 
Williams,  Roger,  23,  35,  43 
Williamsburg,  Va.,  10 
Willis,   Nathaniel  P.,  224,  251, 

263   317 
Windfalls,  303,  314,  315,  367 
"  Wine  for  Gospel  Wantons,"  57 
Winslow,  Edward,  25 ;  writings,  28 
Winthrop,  John,  33;  his  journal,  34; 

his  "History  of  New  England,"  35 


261. 


Winthrop,  Madam,  60 

Winthrop,  Theodore,  407 

Winthrop  the  younger,  140 

Wise,  John,  83 

Witches,  69 

Witchcraft,  38 ;  delusion,  300 

Witch  trials,  73 

"  With  the  Procession,"  433 

"  Woe  to  Drunkards,"  57 

Wolcott,  Roger,  89 

"Wolfe  and  Montcalm,"  284;  death 

of,  383,  385 
'*  Wonder  Book,"  305 
Wooley,  Charles,  75 
Wordsworth,  282 
«'  World  Almanac,"  440 
Writers  in  Smith's  company,  16 
Writing  for  the  press,  321 

Yale  College,  211,  224,  225,  226, 
392;  and  the  new  literature,  155; 
group,  159 

"Yemassee,"  246 


'Zenobia,' 
Zoroaster,' 


427 
427 


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